Industry leaders discussed the demand for tokenized real-world assets (RWA) at a Consensus Hong Kong 2026 panel featuring Evan Auyang (Group President at Animoca Brands), Christian Rau (Senior Vice President, Digital Assets and Blockchain at Mastercard), Nicola White (VP of Crypto Institutions, Robinhood) and moderator Marcin Kazmierczak (Co-Founder, RedStone).
The panel echoed BlackRock COO Rob Goldstein’s bold assertion that digital ledgers are the most exciting development in finance since double-entry bookkeeping 700 years ago.
Today, real-world token assets (RWA) remain firmly institutional territory. Demand focuses on tokenized money market funds, with U.S. Treasuries, stablecoin integrations and collateral optimization products like BlackRock’s BUIDL and Robinhood/Bitstamp offerings highlighting the trend.
Retail participation is lagging, with few participants raising their hands to confirm that they hold tokenized RWA in their wallet. Panelists highlighted that Europe’s clear regulations provide a launch pad for tokenized listed equities, while private credit, real estate, art and private equity show strong future potential, especially as companies remain private longer and demand for 24/7 fractional access increases.
The consensus: RWAs have moved from hype to real utility for institutions. The next wave of mainstream retail integration could unlock billions of dollars in illiquid markets once barriers are removed.
