Introduction to tokenisation

"In the asset management industry, we believe that digital asset technologies could have a huge impact. Tokenisation could make financial markets more efficient by simplifying the value chain and lowering costs for investors"
Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, in his annual letter to investors in March 2023

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Long touted as one of the most promising applications of blockchain technology, "tokenisation", which involves writing an asset into the blockchain, has become an unavoidable topic thanks to a clearer regulatory framework and experimentation by leading financial institutions.

Today, the question is not whether tokenisation will be adopted one day, but rather when and in what proportion. And from that point of view, the prospects are more than interesting.

Theoretically, tokenisation makes it possible to exchange all types of assets, easily, transparently, with a high degree of security and without any geographical constraints. This should have a considerable impact on the financial markets and those who use them, with opportunities that were unimaginable just a few years ago.

But above all, blockchain technology is an unprecedented opportunity to overhaul an entire financial system whose architecture no longer corresponds to an increasingly digital society. Since the 1970s, we have been constantly adding bricks and replacing intermediaries, without rethinking the whole system, resulting in unjustifiable costs and delays in 2023.

Thanks to the ability to digitise and split assets into smaller units represented by tokens, markets will be able to become more efficient and transparent. They will also be able to open up to new investors, such as private individuals, as well as small and medium-sized enterprises...

As we will see in this report, opting for blockchain is a considerable opportunity, even if there are still many challenges. For while the technology is already mature, the players need to create common standards to facilitate interoperability between them.

The aim of this report is to present the opportunities raised by tokenisation, detail the regulatory framework, look back at some of the most relevant use cases, present the leading players on the subject and offer a toolkit for those who want to get started. 

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