Ark Invest forecasts tokenized asset market to surpass $11 trillion by 2030

Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest projects that the tokenized real-world asset (RWA) market could exceed $11 trillion by 2030 as traditional financial instruments increasingly move onchain. The market currently stands at roughly $19–$22 billion, implying a potential increase of about 50,000%–58,000% over the next five years.

In its Big Ideas 2026 report, Ark said broad adoption of tokenization is likely to follow greater regulatory clarity and the development of institutional-grade infrastructure. Tokenized assets are digital representations of financial instruments that trade on blockchains rather than through traditional brokerage systems, offering potential benefits such as lower costs, faster settlement, deeper liquidity, fractional ownership, and 24/7 global access.

Institutional momentum around tokenization has accelerated. The New York Stock Exchange recently announced plans to build a blockchain-based venue for round-the-clock trading of tokenized stocks and ETFs, pending regulatory approval. F/m Investments has asked U.S. regulators for permission to record existing ETF shares on a blockchain, while State Street is rolling out a digital-asset platform to support money-market funds, ETFs, tokenized deposits, and stablecoins. Meanwhile, London Stock Exchange Group has launched a Digital Settlement House to enable near-instant settlement across blockchain and traditional payment systems.

Ark noted that sovereign debt—particularly U.S. Treasurys—currently dominates tokenized assets, but expects bank deposits and global public equities to account for a growing share over the next five years as institutions move beyond pilot programs. Even at $11 trillion, tokenized assets would represent only about 1.38% of total global financial assets, highlighting significant room for further onchain adoption.

Other major institutions have also outlined multi-trillion-dollar outlooks for tokenization, with estimates ranging from $2 trillion to as high as $100 trillion by the end of the decade.