Tokenization in Action: Real-World Assets

Vanessa Malone February 28, 2025February 28, 2025

What companies are transforming real-world assets today?

In our last two blogs, we explored tokenization in action with stablecoins and securities trading. Another real-world example of tokenization happening today is the digitization of real-world assets (RWAs).

RWAs refer to tangible assets like real estate, fine art, and commodities like gold. Leveraging blockchain technology, these assets can be divided into fractions and represented as pieces or “shares” to be sold at a fractional cost of the present-day market value of the asset. Even in private credit and debt markets, tokenization is unlocking new investment opportunities by digitizing private loans, corporate debt, and bonds. Here’s how some companies are putting tokenization into action for these real-world assets.

Ondo Finance

This week, Ondo Finance joined Mastercard’s Multi-Token Network (MTN), bringing tokenized Treasury Bills to businesses using traditional payment systems.¹ Through this integration, MTN participants can earn yield on cash reserves that are not currently in use through Ondo’s Short-Term U.S. Government Treasuries Fund (OUSG) investment product. Information on current participants on the MTN platform is limited but groups like Ondo, the Standard Chartered Bank Hong Kong (SCBHK),² and Kinexys Digital Payments (formerly JPM Coin) have integrated.³ The move helps to make RWAs more accessible for business operations and liquidity management.

PAX Gold (PAXG)

PAX Gold (PAXG) leverages tokenization to offer fractional ownership of gold, with each token representing one ounce of physical gold stored in secure vaults. This allows investors to own gold digitally, without the complexities of storage or transportation. PAXG combines the stability of physical gold with the liquidity and ease of blockchain technology, enabling trading, fractional ownership, and the ability to redeem tokens for actual gold or cash.⁴

Elevated Returns

Elevated Returns (ER) is a financial group known for digitizing real estate. The company made headlines when it tokenized the St. Regis Aspen Resort, allowing investors to own fractional shares of the luxury property through blockchain-based tokens. The project raised $18 million in 2018. They are currently working on tokenizing $1 billion worth of real estate in Southeast Asia.⁵

RealNOI

RealNOI is making real estate investing simpler by using blockchain to turn rental income into digital assets. Instead of buying a piece of property, investors can earn a share of rental cash flows from 1,900 apartments worth $570 million, with expected yearly returns of over 5%. Because RealNOI focuses only on rental income, investors don’t have to deal with property titles, notaries, or managing real estate. All transactions are recorded on the blockchain for full transparency, and investors can buy and sell their shares of rental income on secondary markets.⁶

Premier Art Holdings Ltd.

Premier Art Holdings Ltd., a fine art platform, has partnered with Chintai’s blockchain platform to launch The Premier Art Token (TPAT), marking the first $50 million tranche of tokenized fine art. Premier Art’s platform allows investors to own and trade fractionalized tokens representing a portfolio of high-value fine art. This initiative aims to unlock liquidity and broaden access to a traditionally exclusive and illiquid asset class, with plans for the portfolio to grow into a multi-billion dollar collection.⁷

Conclusion

Real-world assets are positioned to become one of the most impactful use cases for tokenization, bringing liquidity, accessibility, and efficiency to traditionally illiquid markets like real estate, commodities, and private credit. While not as widespread as stablecoins, RWA tokenization is rapidly gaining traction as a way to unlock new investment opportunities.

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