Tokenised Assets Reach $350bn on Institutional Rails, While the Public Market Is Still a Tenth of That
Updated: Oct 7
A new mid year audit from the crypto research house 21Shares, published on 24 June, contains one figure that anyone watching tokenisation in the UK should track.
The total value of tokenised real world assets depends almost entirely on which rails you count. On public blockchains, the kind anyone can access, tokenised assets stand at around 31 billion dollars, anchored by 15 billion dollars of tokenised US Treasuries. Count the same assets mirrored on permissioned institutional networks such as Canton, where they sit as round the clock collateral between large financial firms, and the figure jumps to roughly 350 billion dollars.
That is a more than tenfold gap between the tokenised market the public can touch and the one the institutions have already built for themselves. For founders and investors trying to read where this technology is actually heading, the shape of that gap matters more than the headline total.
A two speed market
The 21Shares report, titled State of Crypto 2026: Mid-Year Update, revisits ten forecasts the firm made in December and scores them against what has happened. On tokenisation, its conclusion is that the structural trend is intact even as the public facing numbers stay modest. The value is concentrating first where the regulatory comfort and the existing relationships already are: institutional collateral, money market instruments and government debt, moving on permissioned ledgers between known counterparties.
The report points to the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation, the backbone of US securities settlement, preparing to tokenise the Treasuries it custodies in phases across July and October. 21Shares frames this as the bridge that converts institutional asset representation into distributed reality. In plain terms, the plumbing is being laid institution first, and the retail and founder facing layer is expected to follow rather than lead.
Why the UK reader should care
This is the same sequence the UK authorities are deliberately engineering at home. The Digital Securities Sandbox and the DIGIT digital gilt pilot are both institution first projects, building tokenised settlement among regulated firms before opening the door wider. The 21Shares data suggests that is not caution for its own sake. It is where the value genuinely accrues at this stage of the curve.
It is certainly the future of finance, but for founders weighing whether tokenised equity is real or hype now, the honest reading is somewhere in between. The institutional foundations are being poured at speed, and 350 billion dollars of activity is definitely not a pilot. But the public, accessible market that would let a startup issue tokenised shares to a broad pool of qualifying investors is still early, still small, and still waiting on the regulatory scaffolding to catch up. The direction of travel is clear. The timeline is not.
The wider mid year picture
The rest of the report rounds out the backdrop. Global crypto exchange traded product assets settled at 140 billion dollars, down 15 per cent over the year as prices fell, though 21Shares noted at the time of publishing, that net Bitcoin holdings remained within touching distance of all time highs, which it read as institutions holding through volatility rather than selling. On the infrastructure side, the firm says the long predicted shake out of weak Ethereum scaling networks has largely happened, with three of them now accounting for the bulk of activity.
The throughline is consolidation and maturation rather than fresh speculative mania.
None of this is investment advice, and a vendor report should be read as one informed view among many. But on tokenisation specifically, the two speed picture is consistent with what the on chain data and the UK regulators are both showing. The institutions are already here. The open market is still being built.
Key Takeaways
21Shares puts tokenised real world assets at around 31 billion dollars on public blockchains but roughly 350 billion dollars once permissioned institutional networks are included, a more than tenfold gap.
Tokenised US Treasuries anchor the public figure at 15 billion dollars, and the DTCC is preparing to tokenise custodied Treasuries in phases across July and October.
The value is accruing institution first, which mirrors the UK approach through the Digital Securities Sandbox and the DIGIT digital gilt pilot.
For founders, the institutional foundations are real and fast, but the public market for tokenised equity remains early and dependent on regulation catching up.
Frequently asked questions
How large is the tokenised real world asset market according to 21Shares?
The 21Shares State of Crypto 2026: Mid-Year Update, published on 24 June 2026, puts tokenised real world assets at around 31 billion dollars on public blockchains. Including assets mirrored on permissioned institutional networks such as Canton, the figure rises to roughly 350 billion dollars.
How much of the public tokenised asset market is tokenised US Treasuries?
According to 21Shares, tokenised US Treasuries account for 15 billion dollars of the roughly 31 billion dollars of tokenised assets on public blockchains.
What is the DTCC doing with tokenised Treasuries?
The 21Shares report says the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation is preparing to tokenise the Treasuries it custodies in phases across July and October. 21Shares frames this as a bridge between institutional asset representation and distributed ledgers.
How does the UK approach to tokenisation compare with the 21Shares findings?
The UK is following a similar institution first sequence. The Digital Securities Sandbox and the DIGIT digital gilt pilot build tokenised settlement among regulated firms before opening wider, while the public market for tokenised startup equity remains early.
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