APAC's $10 Trillion Tokenization Opportunity
Speakers
Summary
- APAC is identified as the primary growth engine for digital asset tokenization, driven by a projected 7 million millionaires by 2030 and $10 trillion in assets under management across Singapore and Hong Kong.
- The tokenization narrative is shifting from "vanilla" assets (US Treasuries) to complex structured products (AAA CLO tranches, private debt, commodities, and real estate) to mirror Asian high-net-worth portfolios.
- On-chain US Treasury assets grew 80% last year to $7.4 billion, with expectations to exceed $20 billion in the next year.
- Settlement efficiency is a key driver, moving from T+2 traditional settlement to T+5 seconds on-chain, unlocking capital efficiency for institutions.
Trade Ideas
Raja states the Stellar network offers "institutional grade" capabilities with 4-5 nines of uptime, sub-second finality, and transaction costs of ~0.5 cents. He notes Franklin Templeton has already scaled ~$1 billion on the network. As APAC institutions with $10 trillion in assets move to tokenize complex products (CLOs, Real Estate) to save costs and increase speed (T+2 to T+5 seconds), they require a proven, low-cost network. Stellar is explicitly named as the infrastructure partner for Market Node and the existing rail for major players like Franklin Templeton. Long XLM as the infrastructure layer facilitating the institutional migration of assets on-chain in APAC. Regulatory crackdowns in APAC or competition from other institutional-focused L1 blockchains.
Rahan Ahmed
CEO, Market Node
Rahan notes that tokenization is moving beyond "money market funds and simple bonds" into "more complex products" like private debt, commodities, and real estate to mirror the portfolios of Asian high-net-worth individuals. The "vanilla" phase of tokenization (Treasuries) is established. The next phase of growth involves higher-yield, structured assets (CLOs, Private Credit). Investors seeking yield in a high-rate environment will gravitate toward these tokenized offerings for liquidity and composability. Long the RWA sector, specifically protocols and issuers focusing on private credit and structured products. Liquidity fragmentation and the complexity of legal enforcement for on-chain real-world assets.
Raja Chakravorti
Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley
Raja highlights Franklin Templeton as a "great example of a partner" that has successfully built and scaled on the Stellar network with "almost a billion dollars worth of tokenized treasuries." Franklin Templeton (BEN) has first-mover advantage in the tokenized treasury space. With the sector expected to grow from $7.4 billion to $20 billion+ in the next year, BEN is positioned to capture significant inflows as the dominant incumbent in this specific niche. Long BEN as the leader in traditional asset management successfully transitioning products on-chain. Traditional finance competitors launching rival tokenized funds or regulatory hurdles for on-chain securities.
Up Next
This CoinDesk video, published February 24, 2026, features Raja Chakravorti, Rahan Ahmed discussing XLM, BKLN, BEN. 3 trade ideas extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.
Speakers: Raja Chakravorti, Rahan Ahmed · Tickers: XLM, BKLN, BEN