RWA Issuers Prioritize Capital Formation over Liquidity, According to Brickken Survey
•February 20, 2026
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Companies Mentioned
Why It Matters
The shift marks tokenization’s evolution from a buzzword to a core financing infrastructure, prompting market participants and regulators to adapt. It also underscores regulatory drag that could dictate the pace of broader adoption across asset classes.
Key Takeaways
- •Issuers prioritize capital formation over liquidity
- •69.2% of respondents are live with tokenization
- •84.6% encounter regulatory friction slowing rollout
- •Exchanges plan 24/7 token trading to increase volume
- •Liquidity expected within six to twelve months by many
Pulse Analysis
Tokenization is increasingly being treated as a financing engine rather than a speculative novelty. Brickken’s fourth‑quarter data reveal that more than half of real‑world‑asset issuers view digital tokens as a shortcut to capital access, investor diversification, and operational efficiency. This focus on primary‑market fundraising aligns with the broader trend of institutional players seeking programmable, compliant structures that can be deployed quickly, especially in sectors like equity, IP, and renewable energy where traditional fundraising can be cumbersome.
Regulatory uncertainty remains the dominant obstacle, with over 80% of surveyed issuers reporting some form of friction. The need to embed compliance from day one forces issuers to partner with legal‑tech firms and adopt standardized frameworks, driving a nascent ecosystem of token‑ready legal structures. Simultaneously, legacy exchanges are pre‑emptively expanding their product suites—CME, NYSE and Nasdaq are all piloting 24/7 token‑trading venues—to capture the anticipated surge in issuance volume and to diversify revenue streams beyond conventional equities.
Looking ahead, liquidity is expected to follow issuance rather than lead it. Nearly half of respondents anticipate secondary‑market depth within six to twelve months, contingent on a critical mass of high‑quality assets entering the market. As tokenized securities gain price‑discovery mechanisms and institutional backing, the traditional divide between traditional finance and decentralized finance will blur, positioning tokenization as a foundational layer for future capital markets infrastructure.
RWA issuers prioritize capital formation over liquidity, according to Brickken survey
Exclusive fourth quarter data shows 69.2% of issuers are live, while 84.6% report regulatory friction shaping tokenization rollout.
Feb 20, 2026, 3:55 p.m.
A new fourth‑quarter 2025 survey from tokenization platform Brickken suggests that the majority of real‑world‑asset (RWA) issuers are using tokenization to raise capital rather than to unlock secondary‑market liquidity, according to a report shared with CoinDesk.
Among respondents, 53.8 % said capital formation and fundraising efficiency is their main reason for tokenizing, while 15.4 % said the need for liquidity was their main incentive. Another 38.4 % said liquidity was not needed, while 46.2 % said they expect secondary‑market liquidity within six to 12 months.
“What we’re seeing is a shift away from tokenization as a buzzword and toward tokenization as a financial infrastructure layer,” Jordi Esturi, CMO at Brickken, told CoinDesk. “Issuers are using it to solve real problems: capital access, investor reach, and operational complexity.”
Brickken’s report comes as major U.S. stock exchanges announce plans to expand trading models for tokenized assets, including 24/7 markets. CME Group said they will offer around‑the‑clock trading for its crypto derivatives by May 29, while the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Nasdaq shared their plans to offer 24/7 tokenized stock trading.
Esturi said the exchanges’ plans have more to do with business‑model evolution than with an issuer‑demand disconnect. “It’s less about getting ahead of demand and more about exchanges evolving their business model,” he said. “Exchanges increase revenue by increasing trading volume, and extending trading hours is a natural lever.”
At the same time, many issuers are still in what he described as the phase of validation, during which they prove regulatory structures, test investor appetite and digitize issuance processes. “Liquidity is not yet their primary focus because they are building foundations,” he emphasized, adding that they view tokenization as “the upstream engine that feeds trading venues.”
The Brickken CMO also said that without compliant, structured, high‑quality assets entering the market, secondary trading platforms have nothing meaningful to trade. “The true value creation happens at the issuance layer,” Esturi noted.
Optional liquidity versus mandatory
While 38.4 % of surveyed issuers said liquidity was not required, Esturi pointed out the difference between “optional liquidity and mandatory liquidity,” noting that many private‑market issuers operate on long‑term horizons. “Liquidity is inevitable, but it must scale in parallel with issuance volume and institutional adoption, not ahead of it.”
Ondo, which began with tokenized U.S. Treasuries and now has more than $2 billion in assets, is focused on stocks and ETFs specifically because of their “strong price discovery, deep liquidity and clear valuation,” Chief Strategy Officer Ian de Bode said in a recent interview with CoinDesk.
“You tokenize something either to make it easier to access or to use it as collateral,” de Bode said. “Stocks fit both, and they price like assets people actually understand, unlike a building in Manhattan. If TradFi moves to 24/7, that’s a godsend,” he added. “It’s our biggest bottleneck.”
The survey shows that tokenization is already operational for many participants: 69.2 % of respondents reported completing the tokenization process and being live, 23.1 % are in progress, and 7.7 % are still in the planning phase.
Regulations are still an issue
Regulation is a major concern among those surveyed: 53.8 % of respondents said regulation slowed their operations, while 30.8 % reported partial or contextual regulatory friction. In total, 84.6 % experienced some level of regulatory drag. By comparison, 13 % cited technology or development challenges as the hardest part of tokenization.
“Compliance isn’t something issuers are dealing with after launch; it’s something they’re taking into account and configuring from day one,” said Alvaro Garrido, founding partner at Legal Node. “We see an increasing demand for legal structures tailored to the specific project needs and underlying technology.”
The report also suggests tokenization is expanding beyond real estate. Real estate accounted for 10.7 % of assets tokenized or planned for tokenization, compared with 28.6 % for equity/shares and 17.9 % for IP and entertainment‑related assets. Respondents spanned sectors including technology platforms (31.6 %), entertainment (15.8 %), private credit (15.8 %), renewable energy (5.3 %), banking (5.3 %), carbon assets (5.2 %), aerospace (5.3 %) and hospitality (5.2 %).
“The real bridge between TradFi and DeFi is not ideological,” said Patrick Hennes, head of digital‑asset servicing at DZ PRIVATBANK. “It is issuance infrastructure that translates regulatory requirements, investor protection and asset‑servicing standards into programmable systems.”
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