Securitize and Real-World Asset Tokenization: How It Works
Tokenized real-world assets on public blockchains crossed $27.4 billion in March 2026, up from $6.7 billion a year earlier. We flagged this trajectory in our RWA outlook last year, and the growth has exceeded even bullish projections.
Securitize powers a significant share of that market, including BlackRock's BUIDL fund, the largest tokenized money market product in the world. But tokenization is only half the equation. Getting traditional investors in and out is what makes it work. We break down how Securitize operates and where fiat rails fit.
Securitize: The Platform Behind Tokenized Assets
Securitize lets asset managers, banks, and fintechs issue regulated financial products on blockchain. Funds, bonds, equities, private credit. The legal structure stays the same. What changes is how ownership gets recorded and transferred.
Traditional fund distribution involves layers of intermediaries: transfer agents, custodians, broker-dealers, fund administrators. Each one adds cost, time, and friction. Securitize consolidates these functions into a single regulated stack, cutting settlement times and opening access to investors who would otherwise be excluded by high minimums.
The company operates across multiple regulated roles:
- SEC-registered transfer agent, maintaining the official record of ownership
- Broker-dealer, handling primary issuance and investor onboarding
- Alternative Trading System or ATS, enabling secondary trading of tokenized securities
- Fund administrator, managing NAV calculations, distributions, and reporting
This level of vertical integration is rare. Most tokenization providers focus on a single layer, while Securitize covers the full lifecycle.
The partner list includes BlackRock, Apollo, KKR, Hamilton Lane, and VanEck. BlackRock's BUIDL fund, tokenized through Securitize, holds over $1.7 billion in U.S. Treasuries. The platform currently manages $4.6 billion in tokenized assets across asset managers and supported blockchains.
Before accessing any product, investors verify their identity through Securitize iD, the platform's compliance layer. This handles KYC, accreditation checks, and jurisdiction-based restrictions. A U.S. accredited investor and a European retail investor see different products based on what each regulation allows.
How RWA Tokenization Works
Real-world asset tokenization, or RWA, moves ownership records from spreadsheets and custodian databases to a blockchain. Think of it like switching from a paper deed to a digital registry that updates in real time. The asset stays the same. What changes is how holdings get recorded, transferred, and settled.
From Asset to Token: The Four Steps
Most financial settlements today take two business days after the trade, known as T+2. The U.S. shifted to T+1 in May 2024, but a 24-hour window remains where capital sits trapped and counterparty risk persists. Cross-border transactions add lawyers, local agents, and compliance costs that eat into returns.
Tokenization compresses this process. Your stake in a fund becomes a digital token tied to your wallet address. The on-chain record syncs with conventional accounting systems. Payouts run through smart contracts.
Here is how that works in practice:
- Structuring: Define the asset, investor eligibility, and regulatory framework. A U.S. private credit fund might use Reg D, which allows companies to raise capital without full SEC registration as long as they sell only to accredited investors.
- Compliance configuration: Embed restrictions: who can buy, transfer limits, lockup periods, jurisdiction gates. These constraints travel with the token.
- Token creation: Mint a digital token on a blockchain, representing a stake in the asset.
- Automated payouts: Smart contracts verify eligibility before releasing funds to holders.
Blockchain enables atomic settlement, where smart contracts ensure delivery and payment happen simultaneously. Private equity vehicles typically require minimums from $250,000 to several million dollars. Tokenization can drop that barrier to $10,000 or less while keeping the same legal protections.
But the process ends with a token in a wallet. How does a conventional investor, someone with dollars in a bank account and no crypto experience, actually access it?
BlackRock BUIDL: The Flagship Case Study
BUIDL, short for BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund, is the largest tokenized money market product on public blockchains. It has gathered $2.5 billion in assets since its March 2024 launch. CoinDesk The vehicle holds short-term U.S. Treasuries and repurchase agreements, paying daily income to holders.
Why BUIDL Matters
Securitize handles tokenization, compliance, and transfer agent functions. BlackRock manages the underlying portfolio. Qualified participants need a minimum $5 million commitment to enter.
What separates BUIDL from a traditional money market vehicle:
- Daily liquidity: Move in and out without waiting for settlement windows
- On-chain yield: Interest accrues daily and pays to wallet addresses
- 24/7 transfers: Peer-to-peer transactions happen any time, not just during market hours
- Multi-chain reach: Runs on Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Avalanche, Arbitrum, Optimism, Aptos, and BNB Chain
From Yield Instrument to Derivatives Collateral
In June 2025, Crypto.com and Deribit began accepting BUIDL as margin for derivatives positions. Binance followed in November 2025, adding it to off-exchange backing options.
This shift changes how institutional desks manage capital. They can now post BUIDL as security for leveraged trades while earning interest on the asset. Instead of parking cash or stablecoins that generate nothing, they hold an instrument that earns income and doubles as margin.
"The fund is evolving from a yield-bearing token into a core component of crypto market infrastructure," said Carlos Domingo, CEO of Securitize.
The Entry Problem
BUIDL has grown fast because it solves a real need: institutions want Treasury income without leaving the blockchain environment. But the product still requires qualified participants to convert fiat into on-chain assets, pass KYC checks, and navigate wallet infrastructure.
That conversion layer, the on-ramp and off-ramp, determines how easily capital flows in and out. Without it, even the best tokenized instrument stays out of reach for most of its target market.
The Regulatory Framework
Tokenized securities do not bypass existing law. They build on top of it. Institutional capital will not flow into a product without regulatory clarity, and issuers need a recognized legal structure to distribute across borders.
In the U.S., three paths cover most offerings:
Reg D
Private placements for accredited participants only, no public SEC filing required. BUIDL and most institutional RWA products use this one.
Reg A+
Caps at $75 million per year with lighter reporting, but opens the door to non-accredited participants.
Reg S
Covers distribution to non-U.S. buyers without SEC oversight, as long as marketing stays outside the United States.
In Europe, MiCA creates a unified licensing and transparency standard across the EU. Securitize uses it as its compliance map for European distribution.
The result: a private credit fund can launch under Reg D, expand to European buyers under MiCA, and deploy across multiple chains without losing its legal footing.
Getting Money In and Out
Tokenization handles distribution. Access is a different problem. A fund like BUIDL can live on eight chains, but most institutional money sits in bank accounts, not crypto wallets. If investors cannot convert dollars to on-chain assets, multi-chain reach is irrelevant.
59% of Americans lack confidence in cryptocurrency security. Among non-owners, security concerns are the primary barrier.
That confidence gap widens when the process feels unfamiliar. On-ramps reduce friction: investors pass KYC once, convert fiat, and access multiple tokenized products through a single flow. Off-ramps work in reverse, redeeming tokens back to local currency with full traceability for regulators.
Without payment connectors | With payment connectors |
|---|---|
KYC repeated at every platform | Single verification across products |
Manual currency conversion | Bank-to-wallet in one step |
Gaps in exit documentation | Audit trail on redemption |
Mercuryo provides this infrastructure for RWA issuers. Instead of spending months wiring up bank integrations, compliance checks, and currency conversion, issuers plug into an existing stack, the same model Stripe brought to e-commerce payments.
The technology to tokenize a Treasury fund already exists; what determines adoption is whether ordinary investors can actually get their money in and out.
Access at Scale
Securitize solved issuance. A fund like BUIDL can now live on eight chains, pay daily yield, and serve as collateral on derivatives platforms. The regulatory path exists. The institutional demand is proven.
What remains is the last step: converting traditional currency into tokenized assets and back again. An investor in São Paulo needs to move reais into a dollar-denominated token. A family office in Munich needs an exit that satisfies BaFin. Until that layer works as smoothly as the rest, RWA adoption stays limited to those already comfortable with crypto infrastructure.
The tools to issue tokenized funds are ready. The payment rails to move capital in and out are catching up. When both connect, access stops being the bottleneck.
