The boundaries between payment and investment assets are becoming increasingly blurred. In the near future, it may be possible to divide the cost of a meal and pay using shares of tokenized funds, a combination made feasible through the tokenization of assets.
During the TokenizeThis 2024 event in Miami on May 9, Rob Durscki, senior director of tokenization at the Stellar Development Foundation, shared this prediction. He believes that bridging the gap between payments and investments will unlock new possibilities in the realm of financial products. Durscki explained that tokenization involves converting the rights or ownership of an asset, such as real estate or stocks, into a digital token on a blockchain. This process allows for fractional ownership, increases liquidity, and makes certain financial products more accessible to small investors.
Durscki emphasized the potential of this technology by stating, “Nothing prevents us here from splitting the check on the dinner, and I’ll pay with Franklin Temple funds because I can send you $20 in 3.6 seconds on Stellar… If you forget about that, you’re still getting 5%, 6% a year on that dinner… This positive blur between investment and payment because it’s ultimately value, right? And we’re unlocking the movement of value.”
Bradley Chase, Ripple’s vice president of engineering, also participated in the panel discussion. He highlighted the customization trends emerging from enterprise customers, stating that more and more enterprises are seeking stablecoin payments and holding tokens on-chain to generate additional revenue.
Currently, over $1 billion worth of U.S. Treasuries has been tokenized across Ethereum, Stellar, and other blockchains. Ripple estimates that tokenized markets will reach $16 trillion in the coming years, a figure eight times larger than the total market capitalization of the entire cryptocurrency sector.
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