Emerging markets backed to drive RWA tokenization growth in 2026, Bitfinex exec

Jesse Knutson, Head of Operations at Bitfinex Securities, a regulated platform offering issuers and traders access to capital and tokenized securities, foresees continued growth in the tokenized real-world assets (RWA) market in 2026. He highlighted that adoption in emerging market economies is expected to be a key driver of this expansion.

Knutson’s forecast surprised many who hadn’t anticipated such momentum, yet it has generated excitement across the crypto industry as stakeholders prepare for another milestone next year.

Meanwhile, just like any other market, the crypto executive noted in an interview that emerging markets are also experiencing challenges in their operations. These challenges include struggling to raise capital and finding it difficult to attract foreign investments. 

Knutson shares unexpected forecast about tokenized RWA market

In a statement, Knutson highlighted that tokenizing real-world assets, which involves converting ownership rights to physical or financial items (such as real estate, art, or stocks) into digital tokens on a blockchain, addresses the challenges encountered in emerging markets. This is because the process enables capital to form on-chain effectively. Additionally, it eliminates the need for traditional financial middlemen. 

The crypto executive further asserted that emerging markets frequently overlook aging infrastructure that lags behind that of developed nations, and instead embrace digital systems, such as stablecoin settlement, more swiftly than areas with outdated financial systems.

Tokenization enables fractional ownership of assets. According to Knutson, this move streamlines the process for regular investors to access investments that might otherwise be very costly.

He also unveiled that firms find it easy to provide fixed returns to investors but struggle to acquire stable traditional funding to benefit most from asset tokenization. 

Currently, fixed-income instruments such as US Treasuries and money market funds dominate tokenization efforts in developed markets. In contrast, developing economies are increasingly focusing on tokenizing tangible assets, such as real estate and commodities.

Following this finding, Knutson anticipated that the total market value of tokenized RWAs would expand to a record number of one trillion dollars within the next decade.

Nonetheless, as the crypto ecosystem continues to achieve several accomplishments following Knutson’s prediction, reliable sources have noted that this growth, as anticipated, depends on leading firms shifting from testing phases to actual commercial products.

Despite the promising outlook for the RWA market, reports still identified several key challenges in the market. Some of these challenges include ensuring that on-chain contracts can be lawfully enforced, offering sufficient liquidity for settlements without incurring losses, and adopting workable frameworks to safeguard investors, said Knutson.

Knutson outlines challenges faced in the RWA market

As Knutson outlined the issues faced in the RWA market, he mentioned that another major obstacle in this market is establishing a common way for various blockchain networks and platforms to collaborate, particularly when developing tokenized assets effectively.

Even with these challenges in mind, the crypto executive still insisted that it is important to secure widespread acceptance. He argued that the various types of token standards and the contrasting nature between permissioned blockchains and open crypto systems pose a technical issue for RWA issuers. 

To maximize the full potential of on-chain assets, Knutson urged issuers to consider creating tokenized products that can be effectively transferred throughout different parts of the crypto ecosystem and later used as collateral in decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.

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