Tokenization

The gates are opening for ordinary investors to buy into real-world assets like rare art and fancy real estate. But regulations and compliance hurdles remain.

Bitcoin’s birth marked a radical departure from the strictures of centralized finance. Is the advent of asset tokenization undermining the original crypto’s founding ideals?

Fractionalizing assets on-chain can greatly increase liquidity, security and market efficiency, writes Hamilton Keats. Here are the key trends and challenges.

Tokenization is having a breakout year, but providers must learn from the past to prevent another FTX or Celsius-level crisis, writes Philipp Pieper of Swarm.

Across Asia, projects dedicated to asset tokenization have become a cornerstone of the new digital economy, showing the world the technology’s possibilities.

The value of crypto is typically tied to its correlation with fiat money. What if tokens can be earned only through good deeds and helping others?

Change won’t happen overnight, but tokenization is a trend that will trigger seismic shifts in the financial landscape, writes Hamilton Keats of Krayon Digital.

Welcome to Forkast IQ, presented by Angie Lau, where we look beyond the headlines to get you insights that power smarter decisions. Coming up on today’s show:

Global warming and rising sea levels are threatening to submerge countries like Maldives and Kiribati. Can blockchain technology help avert disaster?

Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Thailand have regulations supporting the growth of tokenization, showing the world the benefits of fractionalizing assets.

Top blockchain and crypto news: Fidelity Investment is reportedly close to filing its own Bitcoin ETF. NFT traders seek liquidity. Singapore eyes asset tokenization.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the city state’s central bank, has proposed a framework for designing open, interoperable networks for digital assets, developed jointly with the Bank for International Settlements and other financial institutions. 

Fractionalizing assets on the blockchain opens up investment opportunities for the public and the capital market’s access to liquidity, writes Bob Ras. Here’s what’s holding it back.

Thanks to generative AI, a struggling artist with no coding skills created tokens now worth $70 million. What does this mean for the rest of the crypto world?

EY OpsChain ESG enables companies to better understand their carbon footprint by tracking carbon credits through tokenization.

It’s currently fashionable to publicly knock blockchain gaming, but behind closed doors, a growing number of developers are realizing its potential, writes Tim Dierckxsens of Venly.

Many tokenized platforms have grave shortcomings, but if better standards could be adopted, the improved transparency can avert future crises, writes Ralf Kubli of the Casper Assn.

In this era of disinformation and deep fakes, what can blockchain technology do to safeguard the truth about humanity’s shared past?

The digital asset space is ripe for regulation, and tokenized real estate is no exception. But views differ when it comes to finding a framework that fits.

The Hong Kong government is looking to raise US$102 million through the pilot issuance of its digital green bonds, according to a Monday report from Bloomberg. 

Moutai launched NFTs that gives owners to purchase limited edition liquor.

One of the most lauded benefits of bricks-and-mortar tokenization is less intermediary involvement in transactions. Tokenization can certainly make real estate investment cheaper and more efficient, but it’s also a potential win for property professionals.

NFTs, tokenization and blockchain-based cross-border payments will see big paradigm shifts, but their success will depend on regulation, investment and adoption, writes Stephen Richardson of Fireblocks.

India’s Decimal Point Analytics (DPA), a research and data analytics firm, has received grant funding of up to US$750,000 from The Hashgraph Association, a Switzerland-headquartered non-profit organization, to develop an asset tokenization platform on Hedera’s distributed ledger technology (DLT) network. 

Putting property on-chain is a novel way of opening up opportunities for investors and landlords alike. The second article in Forkast’s three-part series on real estate tokenization explores what they stand to gain.

Asset tokenization and DeFi hold tremendous potential for the finance sector, writes Han Kwee Juan of DBS Bank. Here’s how the Singaporean government is at the forefront of change.

Should we be questioning which Web3 projects need tokens?

The tokenization of property in DeFi differs greatly from the securitization that led to the global financial crisis. In this introductory part of a special series of three articles, Forkast looks at the origins of the phenomenon, what’s new about it, and the promise it holds for investors.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) wants to build the city-state into a “crypto hub” fueled by instant settlements, tokenized assets and programmable money, not “speculating in cryptocurrencies,” Ravi Menon, the central bank’s managing director, said at the Singapore FinTech Festival on Thursday. 

Singapore-based Alta, a digital marketplace for alternative investments, has acquired private digital securities exchange Hg Exchange (HGX) for an undisclosed amount. 

DBS Bank, the largest lender in Southeast Asia, has partnered the Singapore government’s Open Government Products (OGP) to pilot purpose-bound money-based vouchers (PBM) using tokenized Singapore dollars to facilitate live transactions with selected merchants. 

A partnership between the World Gold Council (WGC) and Swiss-based DLT infrastructure and application provider aXedras Group could make gold trading more accessible and streamlined, though insiders are skeptical, according to a Bloomberg report Sunday.  See related article: Diamond Standard raises US$30 mln to ramp up tokenized asset distribution Fast facts The WGC’s initiative “Gold247” […]

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) said it had a breakthrough in enabling assets on distributed ledger technology networks, such as central bank digital currencies (CBDC) and tokens on the blockchain, to interact and flow with the existing financial infrastructure. See related article: SWIFT, Chainlink announce cross-chain interoperability partnership Fast facts In one […]

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is preparing for the future of finance by exploring distributed ledger technology use cases, such as asset tokenization and cross-border payments, the city-state’s Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said on Thursday at an event organized by the central bank.  See related article:  Filecoin service provider RRMine leaves China for […]

London-based Ownera has raised US$20 million in a Series A funding round from investors including banking giant JPMorgan and private asset management firm LRC Group. See related article: Tokenized assets may make up 10% of global GDP by 2030: report Fast facts The funds will be used to deploy a global interoperability network to unlock […]

Diamond Standard Co. has raised US$30 million in a Series A funding round led by Left Lane Capital and Horizon Kinetics, the company announced in a statement.  See related article: De Beers to use Tracr blockchain to assure sourcing of diamonds Fast facts The blockchain startup allows institutional and retail investors to trade tokenized counterparts […]

Global investment firm KKR has partnered with digital assets securities firm Securitize to offer tokenized positions for its clients with at least US$5 million in investible assets, exposing them to its US$4 billion health care equity fund, the Wall Street Journal reported. See related article: Guide to tokens and NFTs: what is ‘tokenization’ and how […]

Tokenized assets are expected to expand into a US$16 trillion business opportunity by 2030 — making up 10% of global GDP by the end of the decade — from US$310 billion in 2022. This is according to a new report by global consulting firm BCG and the digital exchange for private markets ADDX. See related […]

Financial instruments sold and traded on a public blockchain could be the next big thing, so Forkast caught up with OSL to hear about what’s planned.

Real estate as an investment is not very liquid, composable or accessible, writes Joel Lin of CitaDAO. Can tokenization and DeFi transform this market?

One door closes and another opens, which seems to be what’s happening in Singapore as the crypto price slump restructures the trading environment.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. blockchain business unit Onyx aims to bring trillions of dollars in tokenized assets to decentralized finance (DeFi), Onyx head of digital assets Tyrone Lobban said at CoinDesk’s Consensus 2022 conference.  See related article: JPMorgan sees upside for Bitcoin, crypto amid market downturn Fast facts “Over time, we think tokenizing U.S. Treasurys […]

The right balance of regulations can better protect gaming companies’ intellectual property as well as players’ assets, writes Henry Chang of Wemade.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has announced Project Guardian, a collaborative initiative with the financial industry to explore the economic potential and value-adding use cases of asset tokenization, according to a statement from Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat on Tuesday. See related article: Singapore wants to bring some adult supervision to crypto Fast […]

The Bitcoin community got a lift last year when it was reported Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund had bought Bitcoin. The company told Forkast in an interview that they do not own BTC, but they are keen on blockchain investments.

Singapore-based private market exchange ADDX has partnered with Temasek subsidiary Fullerton Fund Management to list Fullerton’s private equity fund of funds (FOF) on its digital platform, ADDX said in a statement.  See related article: Digital securities exchange ADDX join Investcorp to offer tokenized US real estate fund Fast facts The Fullerton Optimized Alpha Fund is […]

Tokenizing capital markets could offer greater efficiency and liquidity. How would that work in Hong Kong’s regulatory environment?

Tokenizing an asset allows its trading to be faster and cheaper, writes Oi-Yee Choo of ADDX. It can also broaden opportunities for small investors.

Chinese state-backed real estate giant Greenland Group has formed a partnership, through its financial arm, with Singapore-based digital securities exchange MetaVerse Green Exchange (MVGX), to offer cross-border digital carbon credits trading services. See related article: China eyes blockchain for carbon trading Fast facts The partnership will allow accredited, institutional investors to trade digital carbon credits […]

Conflict in Ukraine takes a toll on Malaysian exchange’s $10 million IPO just a week before planned listing.

South Korea prepares for the imposition of FATF travel rule heat up. Meanwhile in Australia, reforms are set to be introduced for the crypto sector.

Singapore’s image as a “crypto hub” may soon change as the country doubles-down on it’s stance that crypto currency is “not suitable for the general public”. Meanwhile, Korean convenience store giants CU launch their White Day NFT competition.

The new token economy offers unparalleled opportunities for content creators, writes Weiwei Geng of Unite.io. Improving user experience will be key.

A pro basketball player and an ex-banker are aiming for a slam-dunk with a ‘creator first’ content platform. Calaxy co-founder Solo Ceesay explains how.

Malaysian exchange will offer equity tokens representing direct shares on the blockchain, claiming it will be the world’s first fully regulated equity-token IPO.

China’s e-CNY app downloaded 16 million times meanwhile in Kazakhstan the outages hit miners

Bitcoin’s current price is not indicative of the crypto’s future prospects, says Mark Yusko, who looks forward to the tokenization of everything.

Binance withdraws Singapore application meanwhile, Security tokens are on the rise.

Another e-CNY scam busted, meanwhile SCMP to tokenize history

The traditional financial industry is getting its feet wet in tokenization of assets, and there’s an influx of interest in the private asset space, as Mathew McDermott, managing director of Goldman Sachs, said today at a Hong Kong Fintech Week panel moderated by Angie Lau, editor-in-chief and founder of Forkast.News. Fast facts McDermott said Goldman […]

Pay-for-play on Web 3.0 will instigate seismic shifts from centralized social media to community-driven platforms, writes Solo Ceesay of Calaxy. How would it work?

Singapore’s United Overseas Bank (UOB) and digital securities exchange ADDX today announced the digitization of a S$50 million (US$37 million) sustainability-linked bond using blockchain and smart contract technology. Fast facts The bond allocation was part of a S$675 million (US$496 million) sustainability-linked bond issued on Sept. 29 by Singapore-based energy provider Sembcorp Industries, through its […]

The Hainan International Art Exchange Center on Wednesday launched an NFT art-trading platform that supports e-CNY payments, according to China News’ report. According to the staff of the center, the blockchain platform provides services for the purchase and sale of art between art institutions. Institutional traders will be able to tokenize physical artworks as NFTs […]

Singapore-based digital securities exchange ADDX today announced it had tokenized an allocation to a global private equity fund by Partners Group, a private equity firm listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. Fast facts The allocation from the Partners Group Global Value SICAV Fund is the first from a major private equity firm that has been tokenized, […]

Blockchain and tokenization are transforming how real estate can be bought and sold. Here is how one fintech startup in Asia is using digital fractionalization to raise capital.

Design studio that makes hand-crafted statues for global brands such as Marvel, DC Comics and Hasbro plans to expand into new product categories, markets and NFTs.

Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission on Monday warned that digital tokens and initial coin offerings (ICOs) could be involved in unauthorized collective investment schemes (CIS) and urged investors to exercise extreme caution. Fast facts The SFC’s warning comes as the regulator added two property-related CIS investment projects and the “LABS Security Token” to its […]

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub Hong Kong Centre and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) are collaborating on Project Genesis — a green finance project for the tokenization of green bonds using blockchain technology, according to a BIS statement. Fast facts Project Genesis — the BIS Innovation Hub’s first green finance project […]

ADDX, a digital securities exchange headquartered in Singapore formerly known iSTOX, has partnered with Investcorp, a Bahrain-based alternative investment management firm to offer a tokenized real estate fund focused on residential properties in the United States, ADDX announced on Thursday. Fast facts Investcorp raised US$150 million for the fund that has invested in five multi-family […]

A revealing feature article on the hidden world of “hypecoins” was published by the New York Times yesterday, in which journalist David Segal recounted the process of creating and then selling his own hypecoin, which he called IdoitCoin. Fast facts Hypecoins, otherwise known as memecoins, are tokens with little or no intrinsic value, created only […]

The city of Miami is set to launch its own cryptocurrency, MiamiCoin, tomorrow. The token will allow people to invest in the city to fund infrastructure projects and events, according to a report by Decrypt. Fast facts The token is being released in partnership with CityCoin, a project that facilitates cities releasing their own tokens […]

Cryptocurrency exchange Fasset has received three licenses from the Labuan Financial Services Authority in Malaysia for business operations in the country.