Institutions Drive RWA Tokenization Boom, Retail Investors May Face Participation Window

On February 11, during the panel discussion at the Consensus Hong Kong 2026 conference, several industry leaders explored the development trends of tokenized real-world assets (RWA). Participants included Evan Auyang, President of Animoca Brands Group; Christian Rau, Senior Vice President of Digital Assets and Blockchain at Mastercard; Nicola White, Vice President of Robinhood Crypto; and Marcin Kazmierczak, Co-Founder of Redstone Group, who moderated the discussion.

During the discussion, the guests echoed the view of Rob Goldstein, Chief Operating Officer of BlackRock: digital ledgers are the most exciting innovation in finance since the advent of double-entry bookkeeping 700 years ago. Currently, RWAs are primarily held by institutional investors, with demand focused on tokenized money market funds, U.S. Treasuries, stablecoin integration, and collateral optimization products such as BlackRock’s BUIDL and Robinhood’s solutions, demonstrating the increasing practical value of this field.

Retail investor participation remains relatively low, with only a few attendees indicating they hold tokenized risk-weighted assets in their wallets. Experts pointed out that Europe’s clear regulatory environment provides a first-mover advantage for tokenized listed stocks, while areas like private credit, real estate, art, and private equity also show long-term growth potential—especially as companies extend their private status and market demand for around-the-clock access to fragmented assets increases.

The consensus is that RWAs are gradually shifting from early hype to practical use by institutions. Once regulatory and technological barriers are gradually removed, retail investors’ participation could unlock the trillions of dollars of liquidity in underdeveloped markets, injecting new momentum into the global digital asset ecosystem.

As institutional investment continues to advance the tokenization of RWAs, the digitalization and globalization of financial markets will accelerate further. In the future, retail investors may also participate in this emerging asset class under controlled risk, enabling broader capital allocation and wealth growth opportunities.