For years, blockchain boosters have promised that everything of value will move “on-chain.” In 2025, that futuristic vision is starting to look less like a slogan and more like a market trend. From tokenized U.S. Treasury bills to private-equity feeder funds, real-world assets (RWAs) are now being tokenized, traded and settled on blockchains, and slowly being made available to ordinary investors.

So, what does “tokenizing” an asset actually mean? Think of it as turning the investment ownership rights — for example, shares in a money-market fund or a slice of a

private-equity vehicle — into a digital token that lives on a blockchain. Instead of relying on old-school paperwork, transfer agents, or settlement systems that take days, the token itself acts as the proof of ownership and can move instantly between approved investors.