Asset tokenization is the process of converting the rights to an asset, such as real estate, fund shares, bonds, commodities, or cash balances, into a digital token recorded on a blockchain. Those tokens can represent full or fractional ownership, economic rights (like yield), or other entitlements, and they can be issued, transferred, and retired with programmatic compliance and real-time auditability. In short: tokenization brings traditional assets on-chain so they’re easier to issue, track, service, and trade.

At Zoniqx, we streamline this entire journey, from structuring, issuance, compliance, to lifecycle management and secondary workflows, through our Tokenization Platform-as-a-Service (TPaaS) and institutional tooling. Look at our use cases to explore how we do it across real estate, funds, and fixed income.

1. Why are people suddenly asking about real-world asset tokenization?

Because it’s moving from pilots to production. In 2024–2025, some of the world’s largest financial institutions launched live tokenized products: BlackRock’s on-chain liquidity fund crossed $1B in AUM; Franklin Templeton’s on-chain government money fund continues to scale; JPMorgan’s Onyx platform reported hundreds of billions in cumulative intraday repo volume; HSBC’s Orion platform powered a HK$6bn-equivalent multi-currency digital bond; and UBS launched a tokenized USD money market fund in Singapore. These are not proofs-of-concept; they’re regulated offerings serving real clients.

If you’re exploring RWA strategy, the Zoniqx team can help you go from “idea” to “issuance” with structured onboarding, compliance tooling, and issuer services tailored to your asset class.

2. What are the benefits of tokenized assets vs. traditional processes?

• Fractional access & broader distribution. Tokenization can lower investment minimums (subject to regulation and issuer choice) and enable fractional positions to be created, transferred, and serviced more efficiently. This is how Hamilton Lane and KKR have offered tokenized feeders to private-market strategies, expanding access while preserving compliance controls.
• Programmatic compliance. Transfer restrictions, accreditation gates, holding periods, and whitelisting can be embedded in tokens and enforced by the platform and/or the smart contracts. This improves operational control without sacrificing investor experience.
• Lifecycle efficiency. Corporate actions (interest, dividends, redemptions), cap-table updates, and audit trails are automated and visible on-chain, reducing reconciliation and manual work across intermediaries.
• 24/7 transferability & faster settlement. Tokens can settle near-instantly on supported networks, which shortens collateral movement and enables new products (e.g., intraday repos).
• Composability with digital finance. On-chain assets can plug into wallets, programmable payments, tokenized collateral, and (where permitted) alternative liquidity venues, creating an integrated operating environment for issuers and investors.

3. Can you give simple examples of RWA tokenization that are working today?

Funds.

• BlackRock BUIDL, a tokenized USD institutional liquidity fund originally launched on Ethereum, later accessible across multiple chains, and surpassing $1B AUM in March 2025.
• Franklin Templeton’s OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX), live with investor wallets on Stellar (and expanded connectivity), with fund filings describing the wallet model and transfer-agent process.
• UBS uMINT, a tokenized USD money market investment fund offered via UBS Tokenize in Singapore, built on Ethereum.

Real estate.

• Tokenized real-estate offerings range from early single-asset cases (e.g., St. Regis Aspen) to today’s platform-based issuances. The through-line: fractional interests recorded as compliant digital securities, with automated distributions and cap-table updates.

Zoniqx supports real-estate tokenization and fund tokenization end-to-end, covering issuer onboarding, smart-contract controls, transfer-agent workflow integration, and investor portals.

4. How does asset tokenization actually work, step by step?

1. Choose the asset & define the claim. Decide what the token represents: equity, debt, a fund share, a revenue share, or a claim on a pool of assets. This includes decisions on rights (dividends, interest), voting, redemptions, and disclosures.
2. Legal & regulatory structuring. Set up the issuing entity and offering format (e.g., Reg D/Reg S in the U.S. or local equivalents). Draft offering docs and a token-holder agreement that ties the tokens to legal rights.
3. Compliance design (on-chain + off-chain). Encode transfer restrictions (e.g., only KYC/whitelisted wallets; lockups; jurisdictional blocks), accreditation checks, and investor limits. Zoniqx enables programmatic compliance so restrictions are enforced at token-transfer time.
4. Issuance: mint and allocate. Tokens are minted to investor wallets after KYC/AML and subscription approval. The issuer, transfer agent, and custodian have appropriate controls to administer the cap table. Franklin Templeton’s filings illustrate how wallets are created and associated with registered holders.
5. Post-trade custody & record-keeping. Token holders may self-custody or use qualified custodians; transfer agents (or smart registries under applicable law) maintain the official record of ownership.
6. Corporate actions and reporting. Interest/dividends, NAV updates (for funds), notices, and redemptions are processed through the platform and settled on-chain or via connected payment rails. JPMorgan’s Onyx demonstrates how tokenized collateral and cash enable intraday repo and other time-sensitive operations.
7. Secondary transfers. Depending on jurisdiction and exemption, tokens can be transferred peer-to-peer among KYC-eligible wallets or traded on compliant venues/ATSs after required lockups and transfer restrictions. (Lockups remain relevant, tokenization doesn’t eliminate securities rules; it enforces them more efficiently.)

Zoniqx wraps this flow in one stack: issuer onboarding → compliance & registry → issuance & distribution→ lifecycle & reporting.

5. Which institutions are using real-world asset tokenization right now?

• BlackRock: Launched BUIDL in 2024; surpassed $1B AUM in 2025; expanded beyond Ethereum to multiple chains.
• Franklin Templeton: Operating FOBXX on-chain with wallets on Stellar and connectivity to additional networks, as detailed in fund pages and SEC filings.
• JPMorgan (Onyx / Kinexys): Intraday repo and Tokenized Collateral Network (TCN) applications running at institutional scale.
• HSBC (Orion): Digital bonds platform for the Hong Kong government’s multi-currency, digitally native green bond issuance.
• UBS (Tokenize / uMINT): Tokenized USD money market fund on Ethereum; broader tokenization services across bonds/funds/structured products.
• EIB and other sovereign/supranational issuers: Multiple digital-bond issuances within the Eurosystem’s exploratory work.

For strategy, architecture, and execution tailored to your asset class, book a discovery call.

6. Does tokenization really improve liquidity? What are the caveats?

Tokenization can enable liquidity (faster settlement, 24/7 transfers, fractional access, and broader distribution). In practice, liquidity depends on: (1) regulatory pathways that permit secondary trading, (2) venue connectivity (ATSs, P2P with whitelisting), (3) market-maker incentives, and (4) clear investor demand. Analysts highlight that while tokenized funds are gathering assets, broader adoption is still gated by infrastructure and compliant secondary markets. That’s why Zoniqx emphasizes transfer-restriction design and lifecycle plumbing, so issuers avoid assuming “instant liquidity” where lockups or eligibility checks still apply.

7. What networks and standards are commonly used?

Today’s live tokenizations span both public (e.g., Ethereum, Stellar, EVM L2s) and permissioned ledgers, often with institutional wrappers. Notable examples include Ethereum for BlackRock BUIDL and UBS uMINT, Stellar for Franklin’s wallet model, and permissioned/enterprise stacks for bond platforms (e.g., HSBC Orion). Some funds are going multi-chain for distribution reach. Zoniqx supports an interoperable approach so issuers can align chain choice with compliance, cost, and integration needs.

8. How do we get started with tokenization at our institution?

1. Define the business outcome (distribution, operational efficiency, product innovation). 2) Map legal and compliance constraints up front. 3) Choose the chain and custody model that fit policy and user experience. 4) Pilot with a contained perimeter (single fund share class, SPV, or a revenue-share). 5) Measure: AUM growth, cost-to-serve, time-to-settle, error rates, then expand. Zoniqx’s TPaaS gives you a ready-made foundation for issuance, compliance, and lifecycle servicing; our Solutions team co-designs structure, workflows, and investor UX with your legal and ops stakeholders.

9. Quick FAQ

Is asset tokenization only for crypto investors?
No. The largest growth today is in regulated products (money market funds, bonds, private-market feeders) offered to KYC’d investors through compliant channels.

Does tokenization remove securities law lockups?
No. It enforces them more cleanly through programmable transfer rules and registry logic. (Zoniqx makes this design a standard part of issuance workflows.)

What about risk?
Standard product risks still apply (market, credit, rate), plus operational risks (key/custody management, smart-contract correctness) and policy risks (venue eligibility). Leading issuers mitigate these with auditors, transfer agents, and qualified custodians, along with conservative chain selection.

Where is the momentum strongest?
Short-duration yield products, private-market feeders, and digital bonds, because the efficiency gains are immediate and measurable.

References

1. Chainalysis — Asset Tokenization Explained. Chainalysis
2. Britannica Money — What Is Asset Tokenization? Encyclopedia Britannica
3. PR Newswire — BlackRock BUIDL Surpasses $1B AUM (Mar 13, 2025). PR Newswire
4. CoinDesk — BlackRock Expands BUIDL to Five New Blockchains (Nov 13, 2024). CoinDesk
5. Franklin Templeton — FOBXX Fund Page. Franklin Templeton
6. U.S. SEC Filing — FOBXX: Wallets and Stellar Details. SEC
7. J.P. Morgan — Kinexys / Onyx: Intraday Repo & Tokenization Overview. JPMorgan Chase
8. HKMA — HKSAR Digital Green Bonds; HSBC Orion Platform. Hong Kong Monetary Authority
9. HSBC — World’s First Multi-Currency Digital Bond via Orion (Feb 16, 2024). HSBC GBM
10. UBS (Ledger Insights + UBS AM) — uMINT tokenized USD MMF on Ethereum (Nov 1, 2024) & UBS Tokenize overview. Ledger InsightsUnited States of America
11. ICMA — Tracker: EIB Digital Bonds within Eurosystem Exploratory Work (Nov 2024). ICMA
12. Hamilton Lane — Secondary Fund VI via Securitize (Aug 15, 2024). Hamilton Lane
13. PR Newswire — Hamilton Lane Secondary Fund VI: $5.6B Final Close (June 2024). PR Newswire
14. Ledger Insights — KKR Fund Tokenized on Avalanche (Sept 2022). Ledger Insights
15. Colliers — Case Study: St. Regis Aspen Tokenization. Colliers
16. Reuters — What is tokenization and is it crypto’s next big thing? (July 23, 2025). Reuters

About Zoniqx

Zoniqx, a Silicon Valley-based fintech leader, specializes in real-world asset tokenization using AI-driven multi-chain technology. Its platform ensures secure, compliant tokenization, supporting diverse asset classes and global liquidity.

👉 Ready to explore tokenization for your assets? Contact the Zoniqx team today at hello@zoniqx.com or visit www.zoniqx.com to get started.

Disclaimer

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or regulatory advice. References to SEC are based on public statements and do not imply endorsement or legal interpretation. Readers are encouraged to consult with legal or regulatory professionals before engaging in asset tokenization. Zoniqx operates in full compliance with applicable laws and supports regulatory clarity in the tokenization ecosystem.