Tokenized assets are rapidly opening up fresh trading opportunities across global financial markets, but the escalating volume of real-world assets (RWAs) being brought onchain has yet to be met by a corresponding surge in investor demand. This growing mismatch is presenting significant structural hurdles for issuers and market makers alike, according to industry leaders who gathered to discuss the evolving state of digital finance.
Speaking during a panel focused on liquidity and market fragmentation at the CONNECT by Cointelegraph: Singapore Edition event on Oct. 9, Alex Taaffe, chief revenue officer at prominent crypto trading firm GSR, detailed the current realities of asset tokenization. Taaffe noted that while liquidity is visibly improving in sectors such as pre-IPO stocks, commodities, and global equities—asset classes that historically offered limited access to everyday investors—the appetite for fully tokenized RWAs has lagged far behind the sheer velocity of asset issuance.
The Cointelegraph-hosted event brought together a diverse cohort of Web3 founders, institutional investors, and senior industry executives for a comprehensive series of panel discussions. The dialogues spanned critical ecosystem pillars, including asset tokenization, stablecoin payments, next-generation onchain trading infrastructure, and venture capital exit strategies, alongside a high-stakes startup pitch competition.
Addressing the audience during the tokenization panel, Taaffe emphasized that the primary friction point lies in the foundational economics of the sector. Specifically regarding RWAs and fully tokenized assets, he pointed out a pronounced supply and demand imbalance, noting that a vast volume of supply exists because virtually every asset manager and issuer wants to execute capital formation onchain.
Compounding this imbalance is the sheer proliferation of competing blockchain networks and token issuers, which Taaffe argued has further fractured liquidity across digital asset markets. Rather than concentrating capital in deep, unified pools, the distribution of tokenized products across disparate layer-1 and layer-2 networks creates isolated pockets of trading activity.
Lingling Jiang, a partner at DWF Labs who participated on the same panel, echoed these concerns, agreeing that market fragmentation remains a persistent obstacle. Jiang highlighted that the problem is exacerbated when multiple independent issuers tokenize the exact same underlying asset, inadvertently generating separate liquidity pools that dilute trading depth. Despite these structural inefficiencies, Jiang also acknowledged the broader positive trajectory of the ecosystem, observing that cryptocurrency liquidity has improved remarkably over recent years, even as participants recognize that significant work remains to optimize the market architecture.
Stablecoin Adoption Hinges on Everyday Payments
Moving from asset tokenization to currency infrastructure, the panel discussion titled "Stablecoins at the Point of Sale: Cards, Wallets and the Race for Everyday Spend" explored the practical hurdles facing digital dollars. While stablecoins have successfully streamlined cross-border capital transfers and institutional settlements, panelists argued that achieving widespread, mainstream adoption ultimately depends on whether consumers can seamlessly utilize them for everyday, mundane expenses.
Mike Silagadze, founder and chief executive officer of ether.fi, pointed to advanced financial hubs like Singapore to illustrate the existing disconnect. In such environments, a tech-savvy consumer might hold digital assets like USDC in a self-custody wallet, yet they are still forced to rely on traditional local fiat currency to pay routine bills and buy daily necessities. This friction exposes a wide gap between sophisticated blockchain payment infrastructure and the realities of everyday financial services.
Echoing this user-centric perspective, Yvonne Chia, head of communications at USDD, emphasized that stablecoin issuers must prioritize the end-user experience above all else. Chia noted that the overarching goal for the industry is to make acquiring and spending stablecoins so frictionless and intuitive that it ceases to be a conscious decision for the consumer. Ideally, using a stablecoin should feel identical to any traditional digital payment, blending invisibly into the fabric of daily life.
Silagadze reinforced this sentiment, explaining that the fundamental reason stablecoins are not actively used for commerce in many parts of the world is simply because they do not natively plug into standard daily routines.
Beyond consumer habits and user interface design, regulatory hurdles continue to pose a formidable challenge. Ilya Podoynitsyn, co-founder and CEO of FinHarbor, explained that payment providers and infrastructure developers are forced to navigate a complex patchwork of rules that vary wildly across international jurisdictions. This regulatory fragmentation requires firms to continuously adapt their underlying technology stacks and compliance frameworks to meet the specific mandates of individual markets.
Ashna Vaghela, chief customer officer at crypto payments provider Mercuryo, added that the ultimate benchmark for stablecoin transactions is absolute invisibility. Vaghela argued that stablecoin payments should eventually match the frictionless simplicity of mainstream tools like Apple Pay, allowing users to complete purchases instantly within an application without encountering any blockchain-specific complexities.
These discussions unfolded against a backdrop of significant macroeconomic scale for the sector, with the global stablecoin market capitalization standing at $306 billion. This figure represents a modest 2% increase year-over-year, following an explosive 74% growth phase over the preceding 12 months.
Onchain Trading Faces Liquidity Fragmentation and Risk Management Challenges
As digital asset markets mature, crypto trading platforms are grappling with sophisticated operational hurdles, particularly when it comes to mapping available liquidity across a fractured multi-chain landscape and effectively managing counterparty risk. These themes took center stage during a panel exploring what remains missing in the onchain trading stack.
Austin Federa, co-founder of DoubleZero, noted that routing and moving liquidity between disparate blockchain environments remains markedly more difficult than in traditional, legacy financial markets. Describing fragmentation as a multifaceted issue, Federa asserted that it is not merely an execution problem, but fundamentally a data problem, making it extraordinarily difficult for market participants to calculate how much liquidity genuinely exists onchain at any given moment.
On the risk management front, Miguel Morel, founder and CEO of blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, explained how trading firms are increasingly leveraging transparent onchain data to evaluate counterparty risks. This capability is particularly vital in emerging sectors like prediction markets, where certain participants may possess distinct informational advantages over others. By utilizing granular blockchain data to understand who is on the other side of a trade and thereby lowering overall risk exposure, market makers can offer tighter spreads, ultimately resulting in more favorable pricing for everyday customers.
Morel further noted that these same onchain analytics tools can streamline compliance and customer due diligence for exchanges. By analyzing the transactional history and origin of incoming funds, platforms can evaluate deposit origins without necessarily needing to request sensitive personal documents like physical passports. This intelligence allows compliance systems to determine in real-time whether deposited funds can be immediately cleared for trading or require manual review.
Crypto Investors Face Tougher Exits as Markets Mature
Parallel to the challenges facing traders and infrastructure providers, structural liquidity constraints have significantly complicated exit strategies for early-stage crypto venture capital investors. This shifting reality was dissected by industry leaders during a panel dedicated to the persistent dilemma of how investors successfully recover their capital.
Pulkit Gupta of Nomad Capital pointed out that liquidity within crypto markets has remained notably subdued, with the vast majority of available capital heavily concentrated in the largest, most established cryptocurrencies. For emerging altcoins and early-stage token projects, Gupta admitted that securing clean and timely exits has proven exceptionally difficult. Nomad Capital has previously backed several prominent crypto projects with publicly traded tokens, including Movement, Solayer, and Berachain, giving the firm a front-row seat to the changing dynamics of secondary market liquidity.
Echoing this observation and framing it within a broader context of market maturation, Sonia Shaw, CEO of OneAsset, emphasized that the digital asset economy has evolved past the era of guaranteed, rapid liquidity. Reflecting on past market cycles where investors frequently expected to realize full exits within compressed timeframes like six months, Shaw stated her belief that the current market no longer operates under those rules. She characterized this shift away from speculative, rapid-fire exits as a fundamentally healthy development that forces Web3 startups to build resilient, long-term business fundamentals.
Aleksandr Nechaev, partner at Funders VC, highlighted the unique difficulties introduced by the blistering pace of technological and product evolution within the crypto space. Nechaev noted that the rapid rate of change places immense importance on the expertise, adaptability, and resilience of founders, making the founding team’s capabilities a central pillar of modern venture capital investment decisions. These themes of adaptability and navigation of uncertainty remained focal points throughout the remainder of the event, resonating strongly during the startup pitch competition powered by Funders VC.
Crypto Startups & Venture Capital
Crypto Startups & Venture Capital
Crypto Startups & Venture Capital
