Tokenization is a $140 trillion opportunity that almost nobody is building for.
I wrote a piece for the@TACoalition
that probably isn't going to make me popular at the conferences.
The argument: tokenization isn't ready for RIAs to allocate client capital to — and the industry doesn't seem to be building in that direction.
I didn't come to that view from the outside. I came to it from building Protocol Wealth.
When you're actually trying to put tokenized assets into a fiduciary portfolio — running due diligence, mapping custody, thinking about reporting, audits, suitability, the things that matter when it's not your money — the gaps are obvious.
Liquidity
Disclosure
Custody clarity
Counterparty risk
The basic plumbing that RIAs need to do their job The builders are mostly optimizing for crypto-native users and DeFi flows.
That's a real market. It's just not the $140 trillion one.
If tokenization is going to live up to the pitch, somebody has to build for the people who allocate the actual money.
Tomorrow I'm publishing a piece with the @TACoalition
It is not the version of the tokenization story you're used to reading.
The industry keeps citing the $140 trillion RIA market as the prize. Almost nobody is actually building for it.
More tomorrow.
Day 1 of @consensus2026. Miami Beach. Here we go.
Today I get to interview Rob Krugman from @Broadridge on tokenization. Broadridge is one of the organizations that has to be on board for tokenization to actually reach the wealth management industry — they supply so much of the plumbing. That conversation is going to be a good one.
Tomorrow is Wealth Management Day, which I'm helping run. The themes this year are hard to ignore: tokenization, stablecoins, payments, real-world assets. These aren't conference buzzwords anymore — they're infrastructure decisions that RIAs and wealth managers need to start making.
Also worth noting: Bitcoin ticked up on Day 1. If you've been to enough of these, you know that's not the usual pattern.
If you're in Miami this week for Consensus or any of the side events, send me a message. Would love to connect.
Why is this important?
In TradFi, most people don't have the opportunity to borrow against their investment assets. Sure, you might be able to get a margin brokerage account, but that's it. Not horribly useful.
Now, imagine your portfolio consists of not only equities and ETFs, but also tokenized assets representing real estate, credit instruments, equities, income streams.
You need cash for some very valid purpose:
- Purchase a car
- College
- Wedding
- Start a business
As your advisor (which I'm likely not in this case), I would now have so many more options to help you determine how best to access the cash you need.
We can sell assets (which might trigger a taxable event), rely on income, or borrow against your tokenized assets via a decentralized protocol.
More options = more efficiency
But I'll keep going...
As your advisor (which, if you'll remember, I'm not), you also have another option to earn some yield on your money.
You can add to an @aave pool that lends against RWAs as collateral, and earn income. These have more stable values than more volatile crypto assets, so you might feel more comfortable lending against them.
The lego blocks are coming together for everyone
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