Blockchain's great economic bet is no longer on cryptocurrencies themselves, but on the tokenisation of real-world assets.
5.1The order of magnitude: asset tokenisation
The tokenisation of real-world assets (RWA) means representing bonds, funds, real estate and private credit on a chain, so they can be traded 24/7, in fractions, with near-instant settlement. The reference estimates:
- Boston Consulting Group: up to $16 trillion of tokenised assets by 2030 (close to 10% of global GDP); a Ripple/BCG study projects $18.9 trillion by 2033.
- Standard Chartered: up to $30 trillion by 2034.
- McKinsey, more cautious: about $2 trillion by 2030.
The gap between these projections (1 to 15!) shows the uncertainty, but reality is moving: about $30 billion of real assets were already tokenised at the start of 2026 (five times more in three years), with six categories each above a billion (private credit, US Treasury bills, commodities, bonds…).
$2tn
Tokenisation by 2030 (McKinsey, cautious)
$16tn
Tokenisation by 2030 (BCG)
$30tn
Tokenisation by 2034 (Standard Chartered)
5.2Stablecoins: the use case that won
With more than $320 billion in circulation and 250 million holders, stablecoins have become a global payment infrastructure: near-instant international transfers at marginal cost (where migrants' remittances cost on average more than 6% through traditional channels, according to the World Bank), corporate treasury, de facto dollarisation in high-inflation countries (Argentina, Turkey, Nigeria).
The US GENIUS Act (2025) turned them into regulated payment instruments and an openly assumed lever of dollar dominance, to which Europe responds with MiCA, euro stablecoins and the digital euro project.
5.3Opportunities by sector
- Finance: instant delivery-versus-payment settlement (compared with T+2 today), tokenised money market funds (BlackRock's BUIDL), digital bonds (EIB, France via Spiro/SG-FORGE).
- Payments and remittances: the most massive use case (see 5.2).
- Certification and diplomas: tamper-proof proof of documents, fighting CV fraud.
- Traceability: luxury goods (the Aura consortium), food, supply chains.
- Real estate: fractional ownership (BCG projects ~$3.2 trillion of tokenised real estate in 2030).
- Games, ticketing, loyalty: digital objects that are truly owned, tickets that cannot be forged.
- Energy and carbon: carbon credit registries, peer-to-peer electricity trading.
5.4Who captures the value? A map of the players
- The "toll booths": exchanges and stablecoin issuers capture most of the profits today (Tether is the extreme example).
- The "picks and shovels": custody, security, data, compliance (Chainalysis, Ledger), solid revenues whatever the cycle.
- B2B tokenisation: helping banks and companies issue and manage tokenised assets, the fastest-growing segment.
- Consulting and integration: firms and boutiques supporting institutions (MiCA, custody, tokenisation).
- Vertical niches: sector certification, tax compliance (Waltio), identity, supply chain.
Key takeaway for entrepreneurs
The speculative fortunes of the early days have given way to an infrastructure logic: lasting value lies in regulated services for institutions, compliance tools and vertical niches where blockchain solves a real trust problem, not in launching yet another token. As with AI: a defensible advantage comes from distribution, compliance and domain integration, not from technology alone.
Sources
BCG/ADDX and Ripple-BCG via RWA Tokenization Forecasts (blog.tokenizer.estate); Tech for Impact Summit, RWA: The $450T Opportunity (tech4impactsummit.com); SQ Magazine, Asset Tokenization Statistics 2026; World Bank, Remittance Prices Worldwide.
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