Tokenization is maturing from a novelty experiment into a practical infrastructure play, with the strongest cases emerging around assets that already move trillions in daily activity. In a recent perspective, Sebastián Serrano, founder and CEO of Ripio, argues that the true value of tokenization lies not in reinventing niche assets, but in upgrading the rails for money, sovereign debt, and other highly liquid financial instruments. He contends that stablecoins have proven the concept by digitizing the world’s most liquid asset, the U.S. dollar, and that tokenized Treasuries are the logical next step as the market looks to extend tokenization into government debt and large-scale financial instruments.
The argument rests on a simple premise: liquidity drives network effects. When an asset is in high demand and backed by established legal and financial frameworks, tokenization can deliver real interoperability, faster settlement, and real-time collateral management. As Serrano notes, much of the industry’s early tokenization effort aimed at illiquid or bespoke assets—an approach he characterizes as misaligned with where tokenization can practically add value. Instead, he points to stablecoins and tokenized large-scale assets as the foundation upon which on-chain finance can scale.
Key takeaways
- Tokenization’s most impactful use cases center on broadly demanded assets—money, sovereign debt, and major financial instruments—where standardized rules and deep liquidity exist.
- Stablecoins demonstrated the value proposition by moving dollars globally with speed and lower costs; tokenized Treasuries represent the next frontier in expanding tokenization beyond currency into government debt.
- Tokenizing illiquid assets, including NFTs and bespoke real-world assets, remains fragmented by legal ambiguity and a lack of standardization, limiting their potential as a shared financial layer.
- For liquid assets, tokenization enables continuous settlement, real-time collateral management, and programmable cash flows, potentially improving capital efficiency across markets.
- Liquidity remains the key determinant of whether a tokenized asset can function as collateral or be integrated into automated DeFi systems; illiquid assets struggle to deliver consistent value signals and active markets.
Tokenizing the core of finance
The argument emphasizes that tokenization should target assets with established demand and robust regulatory underpinnings. Money and sovereign debt are the base layer of the global economy, actively used by governments, corporations, and individuals alike. Tokenizing these assets does not create demand from scratch; it upgrades the infrastructure on which trillions of dollars already circulate. In other words, tokenization acts as a modernization of core financial rails rather than a mission to reinvent the wheel.
Across recent history, the most visible success stories have been those that map neatly onto existing financial activity. Stablecoins, for example, mirror the dollar’s utility in the digital realm, enabling fast, cross-border transfers and programmable settlement without the friction of traditional rails. The logical extension of this pattern is tokenized government debt and other high-demand instruments, which could unlock new operational efficiencies while preserving regulatory clarity.
Liquidity as a catalyst for interoperability
Liquidity is more than a market metric; it is the enabler of interoperability. When assets have deep, reliable markets, tokenization can standardize a common unit of account and reduce reliance on intermediaries for settlement. This creates genuine network effects: developers can build compatible financial primitives around the same tokenized asset, and users benefit from predictable, real-time settlement and governance of on-chain cash flows.
Stablecoins embody this dynamic by providing an immediate, fungible bridge between traditional finance and on-chain operations. The next major wave, Serrano argues, is tokenized treasuries and similar liquid instruments that institutions already hold at scale. The combination of liquidity and standardization makes it far more tractable for regulated actors to participate and for tokenized assets to be used seamlessly as collateral or as part of complex DeFi protocols. In such a setting, tokenization moves from a novelty to a foundational layer of finance.
The limits of tokenizing illiquid assets
Not all assets are equally amenable to tokenization. NFTs and bespoke RWAs—the kind of assets that are individualized, legally nuanced, and difficult to standardize—pose significant hurdles. Their fragmentation, unclear ownership or custody frameworks, and uncertain enforceability complicate any attempt to create a universal on-chain settlement or a shared economic layer around them. While these assets may hold cultural or speculative value, they do not, in Serrano’s view, anchor broad financial network effects in the same way that money or sovereign debt do.
That said, tokenization can still improve certain aspects of illiquid assets, such as fractional ownership or automated workflows for specific use cases. However, it does not inherently solve the core problem of infrequent trading, opaque valuations, and wide bid-ask spreads that hinder these assets from becoming reusable capital or collateral on a large scale.
Collateral, risk, and regulatory clarity
Another crucial consideration is how tokenized assets fit within existing legal and regulatory frameworks. Digital dollars, government bonds, and large corporate debt enjoy well-established status and accountability, making it easier for institutions to adopt tokenized formats within current law. By contrast, the legal and custody uncertainties surrounding NFTs and certain RWAs can impose higher risk, potentially offsetting the technical benefits of tokenization. In Serrano’s view, that combination helps explain why major tokenization efforts tend to prioritize liquid assets first, paving the way for broader institutional participation as the framework becomes clearer.
The broader implications are clear: as regulators and markets gain comfort with tokenized liquidity and standardized instruments, tokenization could accelerate the efficiency and resilience of traditional markets. The practical reality, for now, is that liquidity and regulatory clarity are the gatekeepers of adoption. Where those two conditions align, tokenization can deliver faster settlement, real-time collateral management, and more efficient capital deployment.
Industry observers have noted that authorities are actively exploring tokenization pathways. For example, coverage in the broader market has highlighted pilots and research into tokenized government debt and related digital finance experiments supported by central banks and regulatory bodies. These developments underscore the trend Serrano highlights: tokenization is most powerful when it aligns with the core fabric of the financial system, not merely as a speculative overlay.
What to watch next
The path forward, according to Serrano, hinges on two intertwined dynamics: expanding tokenization into broadly demanded assets while keeping a clear, enforceable regulatory framework. Investors and builders should monitor the rollout of tokenized government debt and stablecoins as primary indicators of whether the market can sustain scalable, low-friction financial rails on-chain. At the same time, the continued experimentation with NFTs and RWAs will reveal how quickly a path toward standardization and risk management can be forged for the more idiosyncratic assets.
As the industry inches toward a more explicit use of tokenized assets in everyday finance, the practical takeaway remains consistent: tokenization should first strengthen the core—money and sovereign debt—before broadening to fringe assets. The momentum around liquid instruments suggests a future where on-chain finance functions as a direct extension of traditional markets, delivering efficiency gains without compromising transparency or safety.
Opinion by: Sebastián Serrano, founder and CEO of Ripio.
This article reflects a viewpoint on how tokenization could shape financial infrastructure. It does not represent a formal endorsement by Cointelegraph, and readers should conduct their own due diligence before acting on these ideas. For deeper context, related industry discussions have noted central-bank pilots backing tokenization initiatives, including studies and pilots supported by Australian authorities exploring digital finance pathways.
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