The Digitization of Global Capital: How Tokenized Assets are Redefining Liquidity in 2026

Previously, assets such as real estate and investment funds were relatively inflexible and illiquid, yet they attracted institutional investors with their stability. Digitalization, and particularly blockchain-based tokenization technologies, are fundamentally changing these rules: assets are being transformed into digital instruments that can be traded on secondary markets and used for more flexible capital management. Let's consider what tokenization is, how it fits with regulatory requirements, and why this type of asset is becoming increasingly liquid in the digital age. Investing in Illiquid Assets: Benefits vs. Problems In 2026, approximately $120 trillion of global investable capital is concentrated in illiquid assets: the top three are commercial real estate, private companies, and private equity, which form the bulk of institutionally invested real assets. Infrastructure projects, natural resources, and the art and collectibles markets account for smaller shares. Moreover, these types of assets cannot be instantly traded or used in settlement and clearing processes in the same way as publicly traded stocks, bonds, or ETFs. In fact, they are currently available primarily to institutional and high-capital investors, plus capital in such assets is “locked up” for long periods within long investment and settlement cycles. While commercial real estate remains one of the most stable asset classes, its inherent illiquidity has historically limited its potential within global portfolios. Digitalization is solving this by breaking down barriers to entry. Today, the development of institutional-grade real estate tokenization frameworks allows these multi-trillion-dollar assets to be divided into programmable digital units. This doesn't just simplify fractional ownership; it enables real estate to function as a liquid financial instrument, capable of being traded or used as collateral with unprecedented speed. The key investment advantages of such assets include: higher expected returns compared to public markets due to the illiquidity premium and active management; the potential to outperform the market and gain pre-IPO exposure (especially in the private equity segment); greater inflation resilience and lower correlation with public markets. However, such assets also come with a number of structural limitations: • Long settlement and investment cycles. Real estate and private equity transactions don't close instantly and can take weeks, months, or even years to complete and exit the investment; • High barriers to entry. Minimum amounts for participation in private equity and commercial real estate transactions typically start from $250,000-$1 million and above, and in some funds and direct transactions, they can reach several million dollars; • Legal complexity and operational burden. Investments involve multi-layered legal structures, extensive documentation, and regulatory requirements, especially in cross-border transactions. It is precisely these structural problems that modern initiatives to digitalize capital markets are aimed at solving, with the tokenization of real assets serving as a key tool for transforming traditionally illiquid markets. How does digitalization solve the liquidity problem? It's important to distinguish between the concepts: digitalization is a comprehensive process that includes: the creation of digital registries and property rights records; automation of settlements and clearing; electronic document management and compliance; and data standardization. While this in itself only improves process efficiency, one specific digitalization tool that increases the liquidity of real estate, private equity, and investments in private companies is tokenization. Tokenization is a method of representing economic and/or legal rights to a real-world asset as digital tokens on a blockchain. Each token corresponds to a share or a specific set of rights to an asset, such as real estate, and can be circulated, transferred, and accounted for in a digital environment. The main increase in liquidity occurs due to the creation of organized secondary markets for tokens (shares of assets), where investors can: • buy and sell tokens among themselves; • exit a position without having to sell the entire underlying asset; • to form a market price through the mechanism of supply and demand. Such markets can operate on specialized platforms (e.g., RealT, SolidBlock, Fraction) focused on tokenized real estate, as well as on centralized exchanges (CEXs), which enable peer-to-peer transactions, which is especially relevant for retail investors. Trading through decentralized exchanges (DEXs) is also possible, but this format is more commonly used by retail rather than institutional market participants. Unlike traditional OTC transactions, secondary markets for tokenized assets: • standardized; • more transparent; • support more frequent trading and effective price discovery. Liquidity is indirectly increased by expanding the target audience, as tokenization: • It lowers the entry barrier and makes such assets accessible even to investors with modest capital. This is achieved by fragmenting economic rights: one asset can be divided into multiple shares (for example, one property for 100 tokens). As a result, the minimum entry amount is often reduced to $50-$100, and the growing number of participants significantly increases the frequency of transactions and market depth. • Accelerates settlements and clearing. Instead of numerous intermediaries and manual document processing that create lengthy settlement cycles, automated transaction execution through smart contracts is used, reducing settlement times and operational risks. Important: In a broader sense, automated settlement execution (delivery-versus-payment), revenue sharing, and integrated compliance reflect the concept of programmable value, whereby the economic rights to an asset themselves become programmable, not just the processes of their transfer. This reduces transaction uncertainty and maintains liquidity in secondary markets. Why are institutional investors interested in real estate tokenization? The tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) is becoming an alternative standard in capital markets. It enables the integration of illiquid assets into the digital investment infrastructure without abandoning institutional risk and regulatory requirements. RWAs are attractive to institutional investors for several key reasons: • Ownership fragmentation is important not only for lowering the entry barrier (which appeals to retail investors), but also as a mechanism for providing flexibility in the allocation of large capital. It allows for more precise position sizing, portfolio diversification across assets and regions, and liquidity management without the need to invest in large, indivisible assets. • Access to international assets is opened without the need for physical presence or obtaining permits through local intermediaries. Institutional investors gain: the ability to invest in multiple countries/jurisdictions through a single digital interface; the number of intermediaries is reduced; cross-border investments are simplified while maintaining compliance. • Transparency and manageability of operational and counterparty risks are enhanced. Blockchain infrastructure ensures ownership records, secures an immutable transaction history, and enables accurate revenue distribution and corporate governance. Smart contracts: how do they work and what impact do they have? Smart contracts (programmable contracts that automatically execute predetermined conditions without the involvement of intermediaries) are a technological framework that automates: • Legal processes: They document ownership rights, asset transfer terms, and compliance with token circulation restrictions. They automatically monitor compliance with these rules in every transaction, reducing the risk of non-compliance and the need for manual oversight. • Settlements: ensure automated payments and settlements between participants (delivery-versus-payment), including settlements for token purchases and sales and revenue distribution. This speeds up transactions and reduces operational risks associated with manual document processing. • Income payments to investors: automatically distribute dividends, interest, or other income according to pre-set conditions and token ownership proportions, ensuring accurate, transparent, and timely payments without the need for intermediaries. Important: This is a comprehensive system, critical for institutional investors. Legal automation with precisely defined rules forms the basis for further secure settlements and payments. Settlements themselves are carried out in compliance with regulatory standards and regulations, and payments complete the automation chain, minimizing the need for manual intervention and reducing operational risks. Conclusion Tokenization is already becoming a rapidly adopted tool for more efficient capital management, used not only by retail investors and crypto traders but also by institutional players. The widespread adoption of tokenization between 2026 and 2036 is expected to radically change the structure of investment portfolios: stable real estate investments will become more diversified thanks to fractional ownership, and international transactions will become more accessible, transparent, and faster thanks to standardized digital infrastructure and automated compliance.