Tokenisation was once framed as a disruptive edge of crypto finance: experimental, speculative, peripheral. Yet a quieter transformation is underway. What began as a digital wrapper for assets is increasingly becoming part of institutional market architecture.

Major financial institutions are no longer observing from the sidelines. Bonds have been issued on blockchain platforms operated by established banks. Money market funds have been represented as on-chain tokens. Tokenised exchange-traded funds now sit within structures that combine traditional custodians with public blockchains. The shift is subtle but consequential: tokenisation is migrating from startup experimentation to financial infrastructure.

For investors, this reframing matters. Infrastructure does not behave like a niche asset class. It reshapes how capital flows, how liquidity forms, and how risk travels. And once infrastructure evolves, portfolios are affected even indirectly.

Understanding the Landscape

The scale remains modest. As of May 2023, tokenised assets on permissionless blockchains were estimated at approximately $2.15 billion in market value. Within decentralised finance, around $700 million was locked in categories tied to real-world assets, even as overall DeFi activity stabilised. The growth in tokenised real-world assets has outpaced broader DeFi expansion, signalling a structural reallocation of attention and capital.

But scale alone is not the defining feature. Structure is.

Tokenisation links blockchain-based tokens to real-world reference assets through defined design mechanisms: the choice of blockchain (permissioned or permissionless), custody arrangements, valuation processes, and critically, redemption options. These mechanisms connect digital trading environments with off-chain assets such as government securities, corporate bonds, commodities, and property interests.

Institutional participation is accelerating this linkage. European investment-grade bonds have been issued on private blockchain platforms. A major asset manager has tokenised shares of a U.S. government money market fund, maintaining a stable share structure while recording transactions on public blockchains. Financial institutions are settling intraday repo transactions using blockchain-based infrastructure. Tokenised ETFs referencing traditional securities are now operational.

These developments signal that tokenisation is no longer an isolated crypto phenomenon. It is integrating into conventional capital market processes.

When that happens, interdependence follows.

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Infrastructure Changes Risk Transmission

The non-obvious implication of institutionalisation is not innovation. It is connectivity.

Redemption mechanisms allow holders of tokens to exchange them for the underlying reference assets. Custody structures ensure that those assets are held off-chain while the token trades on-chain. Together, these features create functional bridges between crypto markets and traditional financial markets.

At a small scale, such bridges may appear benign. At a sufficient scale, they can transmit stress.

If token prices diverge from the value of their underlying assets, arbitrage incentives arise. Market participants can buy discounted tokens, redeem them for the reference asset, and sell the asset in traditional markets. In normal conditions, this may enhance price alignment. Under stress, it may amplify selling pressure.

Timing mismatches intensify the dynamic. Crypto markets operate continuously, twenty-four hours a day. Most traditional markets close at the end of the business day and remain closed over weekends. If redemption pressure builds when reference asset markets are shut, issuers may face liquidity constraints. Fire-sale dynamics can emerge if underlying assets must be sold quickly once markets reopen.

These risks resemble patterns observed in other financial structures. When securitisation expanded in prior decades, complexity and perceived liquidity often masked underlying exposure. Tokenisation differs technologically, but structurally, it also converts less liquid assets into more easily tradable claims.

For investors, this means tokenised assets are not merely digital wrappers. They are nodes in an increasingly interconnected capital network. As banks and regulated asset managers adopt tokenised instruments, volatility ceases to be confined to crypto-native ecosystems. It gains channels into conventional portfolios.

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From Insight to Action

Institutional infrastructure changes slowly and then all at once. Investors should respond deliberately.