Ondo and Securitize execs say utility, not hype, will drive tokenization’s next phase

Executives from some firms accidental the adjacent signifier of tokenization indispensable prioritize functionality and compliance during a sheet astatine Consensus successful Hong Kong.

Feb 11, 2026, 5:48 p.m.

Hong Kong — Tokenization is gaining traction, but its occurrence depends little connected marketplace hype and much connected real-world utility, accidental executives from Ondo Finance and Securitize.

“There’s nary shortage of firms, of issuers, of companies that are funny successful tokenizing,” said Graham Ferguson, caput of ecosystem astatine Securitize, during a sheet treatment astatine Consensus Hong Kong. “But it’s connected america to fig retired however to administer these assets on-chain via exchanges successful a mode that is compliant, regulatory-friendly globally.”

Ferguson emphasized that contempt precocious involvement connected the organization side, organisation and compliance stay the bottlenecks. “The biggest contented that we tally into is communicating with exchanges and DeFi protocols astir the requirements that are indispensable to adhere to our obligations arsenic a regulated entity,” helium said.

Securitize has partnered with firms specified arsenic BlackRock to tokenize real-world assets, including U.S. Treasury funds. BlackRock’s BUIDL fund, launched successful 2024, present holds implicit $2.2 cardinal successful assets, making it the largest tokenized Treasury money connected the market.

Ondo Finance, which besides focuses connected tokenized Treasuries and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), has astir $2 cardinal successful full worth locked (TVL) according to information from rwa.xzy. Min Lin, Ondo’s managing manager of planetary expansion, said tokenized Treasuries contiguous are a fraction of the imaginable market.

Both speakers stressed that the adjacent signifier of tokenization volition beryllium driven by what users tin really bash with tokenized assets. Ondo precocious enabled tokenized stocks and ETFs to beryllium utilized arsenic borderline collateral successful DeFi perpetuals — a first, Lin said.

“That brings a batch much superior ratio successful presumption of the inferior of those tokenized assets,” helium added.

Ferguson agreed, arguing that technological advantages similar programmable compliance and accelerated colony aren’t capable connected their own. “Utility is perfectly acold and distant fig one,” helium said. “That’s what volition thrust the adjacent phase.”

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