PBW 2026: Industry Experts Say Tokenization Cannot Fix Asset Liquidity on Its Own

Asset tokenization records rights to real-world assets, or RWAs, such as real estate and private credit on a blockchain, potentially lowering barriers to issuance and distribution. But trading depth still depends on buyer and seller demand, product standardization and secondary markets. As the RWA sector expands, attention has shifted from whether assets can be brought onchain to whether they can trade consistently.

An April 17 report cited Ondo Finance’s Oya Celiktemur and Tether’s Francesco Ranieri Fabracci as saying at PBW 2026 that putting assets onchain does not automatically create liquidity. RWA.xyz data showed the market growing from $8.8 billion on April 16, 2025, to about $29.9 billion on the same date in 2026. Real estate increased from $35 million to $296 million, but that growth does not necessarily indicate active secondary-market trading.