Tokenized Real-World Assets Face Supply and Demand Imbalance, Industry Experts Say at Singapore Summit

Tokenized assets are rapidly opening up exciting new trading opportunities across global financial markets, yet the accelerating supply of real-world assets (RWAs) being brought onchain has not yet been matched by parallel investor demand, according to industry leaders. Speaking during a high-profile panel on liquidity and market fragmentation at CONNECT by Cointelegraph: Singapore Edition on Oct. 9, Alex Taaffe, the chief revenue officer at prominent crypto trading firm GSR, highlighted a growing structural mismatch in the evolving digital asset economy.

While liquidity is visibly improving across trading sectors for pre-IPO stocks, commodities, and global equities—asset classes that traditional cryptocurrency investors previously struggled to access—demand for fully tokenized RWAs has failed to keep pace with the sheer volume of assets being issued. The event successfully brought together Web3 founders, institutional investors, venture capitalists, and various industry executives for a robust series of panel discussions. These conversations spanned critical topics such as asset tokenization, stablecoin payments, onchain trading infrastructure, and venture capital exit strategies, alongside a competitive startup pitch showcase.

Addressing the audience during the liquidity panel, Taaffe pointed out that the core challenge lies in the asset issuance pipeline. Specifically regarding RWAs and fully tokenized instruments, he noted that a distinct supply and demand imbalance has emerged. Every asset manager and institutional issuer seemingly wants to conduct capital formation directly onchain, creating a crowded marketplace. However, he cautioned that this proliferation of new asset issuers, coupled with the rising number of distinct blockchains, has further fragmented liquidity across tokenized markets, making efficient price discovery and execution considerably more difficult.

Lingling Jiang, a partner at DWF Labs, echoed these concerns, agreeing that market fragmentation remains a persistent and formidable challenge for the industry. She noted that this friction is particularly acute when different issuers choose to tokenize the same underlying asset type, inadvertently creating isolated, separate liquidity pools rather than a unified, deep market. Despite these structural hurdles, Jiang emphasized that overall cryptocurrency liquidity has improved significantly over recent years, even as the ecosystem acknowledges that substantial work remains to mature fully.

Stablecoin Adoption Hinges on Everyday Payments Infrastructure

Moving from institutional assets to consumer-facing applications, the panel titled "Stablecoins at the Point of Sale: Cards, Wallets and the Race for Everyday Spend" explored the practical hurdles facing digital cash. Mike Silagadze, the founder and CEO of ether.fi, argued that while stablecoins have undeniably revolutionized the speed and efficiency of moving money across international borders, broader mainstream adoption ultimately depends on whether ordinary consumers can seamlessly use them for routine, everyday expenses.

Silagadze drew attention to developed financial hubs like Singapore, where tech-savvy consumers might comfortably hold digital dollars like USDC in their wallets, yet still find themselves needing to rely on local fiat currency to pay routine bills or buy groceries. This daily friction underscores a lingering gap between advanced blockchain payment infrastructure and the realities of everyday financial services. Yvonne Chia, head of communications at USDD, reinforced this perspective by emphasizing that from the consumer’s point of view, user experience is paramount. She explained that the industry must move toward a future where using stablecoins is so frictionless that it entirely fades into the background of a user’s consciousness, operating simply as a normal, unconsidered part of their daily lives.

Silagadze reiterated that the underlying reason why stablecoins remain underutilized for retail transactions in many parts of the world is simply that they do not yet plug natively into day-to-day life. Beyond usability challenges at the consumer level, regulatory hurdles continue to complicate expansion. Ilya Podoynitsyn, the co-founder and CEO of FinHarbor, pointed out that service providers must carefully navigate a complex web of rules that vary wildly across different legal jurisdictions, forcing them to continuously adapt their technical infrastructure and compliance frameworks to appease local authorities.

Echoing the vision for frictionless integration, Ashna Vaghela, chief customer officer at crypto payments provider Mercuryo, suggested that stablecoin transactions should eventually become as straightforward as utilizing mainstream technologies like Apple Pay, allowing users to complete purchases effortlessly within existing applications. The entire point, she noted, is for the underlying technology to become completely invisible. These discussions unfolded against the backdrop of a maturing stablecoin sector, where the total market capitalization recently stood at approximately $306 billion, reflecting a modest 2% growth year over year following a explosive 74% expansion in the preceding 12-month cycle.

Onchain Trading Faces Liquidity Fragmentation and Risk Management Challenges

As the focus shifted toward decentralized trading infrastructure during the panel "What’s Still Missing in the Onchain Trading Stack in 2026," industry participants detailed the complex operational hurdles crypto trading platforms face when trying to track available liquidity across an expanding array of distinct blockchain networks while simultaneously mitigating counterparty risk.

Austin Federa, co-founder of DoubleZero, explained that moving liquidity fluidly between different blockchain ecosystems remains significantly harder than in traditional, legacy financial markets. He noted that market fragmentation is not merely an execution problem for traders, but fundamentally a data problem, observing that it is genuinely difficult for market participants to calculate how much liquidity truly exists onchain at any given moment.

On the risk management front, Miguel Morel, founder and CEO of blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, highlighted how trading firms can leverage transparent onchain data to accurately assess counterparty risks. This capability is especially crucial in emerging sectors like prediction markets, where certain participants may possess a distinct informational advantage over others. Morel noted that knowing who is on the other side of a trade allows a firm to take less risk and consequently offer a tighter spread, which ultimately translates to better pricing for everyday customers.

Furthermore, Morel explained that this same granular blockchain data can assist exchanges in evaluating customer deposits, allowing platforms to trace the origin of funds and streamline compliance protocols. Without needing to demand a physical passport or intrusive documentation, platforms can often determine where incoming deposits originate and make informed decisions on whether to permit immediate trading or route funds for further compliance review.

Crypto Investors Face Tougher Exits as Markets Mature

In the venture capital ecosystem, liquidity constraints have fundamentally complicated exit strategies for early-stage backers, a reality dissected by panelists during "The Exit Problem: How Investors Get Their Money Back." Pulkit Gupta of Nomad Capital noted that liquidity across digital asset markets has been particularly subdued over recent months, with the vast majority of available capital remaining heavily concentrated in the largest, most established cryptocurrencies.

For altcoins, Gupta admitted that securing timely and profitable exits has proven remarkably difficult. Nomad Capital has previously backed several prominent crypto projects featuring publicly traded tokens, including Movement, Solayer, and Berachain, giving the firm a firsthand view of current market bottlenecks.

Sonia Shaw, CEO of OneAsset, offered a complementary perspective on the shifting market dynamics, noting that the broader crypto economy has matured considerably. This evolution requires emerging startups to demonstrate robust, sustainable business fundamentals rather than relying solely on speculative hype. Recalling an era when some investors naively expected a full liquidity exit within a mere six months, Shaw asserted that the market simply operates differently today, viewing this transition away from rapid, speculative exits as a healthy and positive sign of long-term market maturation.

Adding to the discussion on venture investments, Aleksandr Nechaev, a partner at Funders VC, emphasized the distinct challenges posed by the relentless pace of change in both product development and market sentiment. He noted that the rapid speed of transformation makes a founder’s specific expertise and their demonstrated ability to navigate uncertainty absolutely central to modern investment decisions. These themes of adaptability and team resilience took center stage later in the day during the event’s startup pitch competition, which was powered by Funders VC to highlight the next generation of builders in the space.