For most of the past decade, tokenization was discussed as an experiment. That framing no longer fits. Large banks now run tokenized payment networks at scale, securities regulators are writing rules for on-chain trading, and the value of real-world assets recorded on public blockchains has passed $39 billion.
The question for business leaders has shifted. It is no longer whether tokenization works. It is who can take a real asset from idea to a live, regulated product without the project stalling halfway.
The evidence that tokenization has gone institutional
Four recent developments show how far the market has moved.
Banks are running it at scale. J.P. Morgan’s Kinexys network has processed more than $4 trillion in transactions since launch, and in June 2026 it expanded to eight currencies, according to The Defiant. In the Gulf, eight of the largest banks in the Middle East and North Africa use its payments network, including Qatar National Bank, Saudi National Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank and Emirates NBD, The Block reported.
Regulators are writing the rules. On 17 September 2026, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission adopted a five-year “Innovation Exemption” that allows tokenized stocks to trade on qualifying on-chain venues, under conditions such as volume caps and public, auditable smart contracts, as summarised by Hunton Andrews Kurth.
The asset base is measurable. RWA.xyz data for 4 November 2026 put the value of tokenized real-world assets above $39 billion, with more than 5.5 million holder addresses, reported by Open4Business. Tokenized U.S. Treasury products alone accounted for about $14.2 billion.
Islamic finance has started to move. In April 2026, Malaysia’s sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional and the Securities Commission Malaysia priced the country’s first tokenised sukuk, a RM100 million tranche issued on distributed ledger technology, per Fintech News Malaysia. That matters because Islamic finance assets reached $6.5 trillion in 2025, according to the ICD–LSEG report as covered by EnterpriseAM. That is more than 160 times the value of all tokenized real-world assets combined.
Why launches still stall
If the rails exist, why do so many tokenized products take so long to reach investors? The answer is rarely the technology. Minting a token is a well-understood task. The difficulty is everything around it.
A single tokenized fund or note can need a legal structure, a regulatory approval, a fund administrator, a custodian, a bank for the cash leg, a technology provider, identity and eligibility checks, and distribution partners. Each is usually a separate firm with its own process, timeline and incentives. For Shariah-aligned products, a Shariah board and ongoing screening add another layer.
This vendor fragmentation creates three business problems:
- Accountability gaps. When a launch slips, no single party owns the outcome. The issuer ends up managing the coordination risk itself.
- Sequencing delays. Steps depend on each other. A custodian cannot be finalised before the structure is approved, and distribution cannot start before custody is in place. Each hand-off stretches the fund launch timeline.
- Board exposure. Senior sponsors take a tokenization proposal to an investment committee or board. A stalled project damages their credibility, even if the technology worked.
Three operating models are emerging
Firms are responding to the coordination problem in different ways. Most fall into one of three models.
| Model | How it works | Example | Trade-off |
| In-house bank network | A large bank builds and runs its own tokenized network for its clients | J.P. Morgan’s Kinexys | Strong for that bank’s clients; tied to one institution’s network |
| Vertically integrated provider | One firm holds the licences and runs most layers itself | Securitize, which runs an SEC-registered transfer agent, a broker-dealer with an alternative trading system, and fund administration, per the company | One counterparty; issuers adopt that firm’s stack |
| Orchestration partner | One firm takes accountability for the launch and coordinates specialist partners | Zamanat, which focuses on Shariah-aligned tokenized investment products | Flexible choice of partners; depends on the strength of those partnerships |
Zamanat describes its mission as building the global market for Digital Shariah Assets. It acts as a single accountable partner that coordinates sourcing, regulation, technology and distribution into one workflow, rather than selling its own technology stack.
No model is right for every issuer. A global bank with in-house legal and technology teams may prefer to build. A first-time issuer may value a single point of accountability more than owning each layer.
Five questions to ask before launching a tokenized product
Whatever model an organisation chooses, these questions help test whether a project is ready to move from slide deck to launch.
- Who owns the outcome? Name the one party accountable for the product going live, not just for each component.
- Which record is legally authoritative? Decide whether the on-chain ledger or an off-chain register is the official record of ownership, and how the two stay in sync.
- Who is the buyer, and how will they reach the product? Tokens do not create demand. Identify the eligible investors and the regulated channels that will serve them before issuance.
- Which jurisdiction and approvals apply? Map the regulatory path, and for Shariah-aligned products the Shariah review, before choosing technology.
- How will the cash move? Settlement is only as fast as the slowest leg. Confirm how subscriptions, redemptions and distributions will be paid.
From technology question to operating question
The infrastructure for tokenization is now in place at the largest banks and is being written into securities rules. What separates a live product from a stalled one is execution: clear ownership, the right sequence of approvals, and a route to investors.
For leaders weighing a tokenization project, the first decision is not which blockchain to use. It is who will be accountable for getting the product to market.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment, financial, legal or Shariah advice.
