Real-world asset tokenization: $500 billion opportunity of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)

Asset ownership is moving onto new rails For years, owning a physical or financial assetwas recorded in a fragmented way. Whethercaptured in paper deeds, digital registries, orcustodial databases, the various parts of the But that is changing. First, blockchain technology created shared digital ledgers, challengingthe idea that ownership had to be locked in discrete institutional records. Then, those ledgersbecame more advanced, with added programmability capabilities, transforming static Today, everything from stocks and bonds to real estate, commodities, and intellectualproperty can be tokenized, distributed, and traded in ways that traditional systems were neverable to support via secure, transparent, hyper-connected platforms. This benefits just about While many traditional assets are hard to sell or don’t have active markets,making trade and pricing more difficult, blockchain tokens can be traded Traditional investments often come with high minimums, but tokenizationenables part ownership, opening previously exclusive asset classes to a Where traditional markets can suffer from fuzzy ownership and transactionrecords, blockchain introduces securely recorded and publicly verifiable data Geographic limits, middlemen, and regulatory tangles previously kept manyinvestors on the sidelines, but tokenization works across borders, often When every manual step or intermediary adds another fee (or delay), costsstack up fast. With tokenization, smart contracts automate and streamline the High-velocitygrowth meets As tokenization capabilities have bedded in, it has become much more appealing as aninvestment and distribution tool, and adoption has gone into overdrive. To put this inperspective, if we exclude stablecoins, which form a large, established category in their ownright, the on-chain RWA market grew from just $1.1 billion at the start of 2023 to almost $20billion in January 2026—a rapid compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 160 Figure 2 on page 3 is based on data from the tokenized RWA market intelligence platformRWA.xyz and shows just how quickly the market has climbed in value. It looks like the market In fact, robust, scalable tokenization solutions have only become available relatively recently.Figure 3 on page 4 shows which players have started to emerge and provide these along the These developments aside, it’s still early days, and the tokenization market is only a fraction ofthe size of traditional asset markets. Adoption is also at an early stage: most leading assetmanagers are still in discovery or pilot phases, and only a handful have seen tokenization What will it take toshift the dial frominitial exploration to From our experience working with stakeholders across thetokenization ecosystem, we have found three areas that are For tokenization to take off in earnest, organizations need unambiguous rules around howtokenized assets are classified, issued, held, and traded—and what their own obligations are.However, until recently, this clarity has been lacking, leaving many institutions cautious about Fragmented approaches.Countries use differing definitions, classifications, and licensing Diverging protection standards.Disclosure rules, investor segmentation, and marketingrestrictions are extremely varied, complicating cross-border issuance and distribution. Inconsistent safeguards.Customer protection regimes remain highly localized. WhileEurope’s MiFID II largely excludes virtual assets, the UK has implemented a more One notable development that could change this state of affairs is the introduction of theCLARITY Act in the United States. This market structure bill that aims to establish a unifiedregulatory framework for digital assets was released as an initial draft in 2025 and is expected While the blockchain technology has moved beyond hype to real-world application,connecting other asset ownership systems to it is more of a challenge. As we have discussed,most assets are still recorded using centralized databases, land registries, bank custodialsystems, and central securities depositories. Getting tokenization to scale will mean replacing Above all else, if tokenization is to thrive, it needs an active market environment. Beyond clearregulation and sound technology, that means infrastructure that supports the full life cycle ofan asset, from structuring and issuance to distribution, secondary trading and ongoingmanagement. Today, many initiatives are stuck in pilot mode because one or more As these core building blocks take shape, the question shifts from how tokenization will workto where it will accelerate first. Could the GCC offer the regulatory focus, digital infrastructure, Sizing the GCC To assess the potential for tokenization in the GCC, we begin by examining the asset classesthat offer the strongest use cases and scope for expansion (see figure 4 on page 8).Combining current market size, projected growth, and expected tokenization uptake reveals E