Ethereum and Solana Fuel Explosive Tokenization Growth in 2026
Forget the old guard—blockchain's twin titans are bulldozing traditional finance's barriers.
The Infrastructure War Heats Up
Ethereum's established smart contract fortress faces a nimble challenger in Solana. One offers deep liquidity and a massive developer army; the other counters with blistering speed and microscopic fees. This isn't just tech rivalry—it's a race to host the future of every asset class.
From Real Estate to Royalties
The tokenization wave isn't stopping at digital art. Platforms built on these chains are slicing up everything from commercial property shares to music streaming revenue. It creates liquid markets for the illiquid, letting investors trade fragments of assets once locked away in vaults and legal paperwork. Traditional finance still struggles with settlement times measured in days—these networks settle in seconds.
Regulatory Hurdles Remain
Speed doesn't erase scrutiny. Global watchdogs scramble to categorize tokenized securities, commodities, and whatever new hybrid asset gets invented next. Compliance isn't optional, but on-chain programmability builds it directly into the asset's code—a feature, not an afterthought.
The growth is undeniable, fueled by a simple promise: cut out the middlemen, unlock global capital, and democratize access. Of course, Wall Street will still take its cut—they're just figuring out how to repackage the blockchain fee as a 'management premium.' The revolution will be tokenized, and monetized.
Ethereum and Solana boost tokenization growth
🏦⛓️ Tokenized assets represents the fastest-growing category in crypto.
Incumbent financial institutions, such as BlackRock and J.P. Morgan, are now launching blockchain-based versions of traditional payments, savings, and investment products.
As a result, blockchains like… pic.twitter.com/bb2SS10L26
— Token Terminal 📊 (@tokenterminal) January 16, 2026
Token Terminal, an on-chain data platform, reported that the sector has witnessed remarkable growth, driven by existing platforms such as ethereum and Solana. The firm noted that these platforms have become strategic hubs for crypto start-ups and global financial institutions to launch financial products for users worldwide.
The data platform highlighted that more than 2,100 tokenized assets have been deployed as of January 16. Token terminal also noted that the sector has grown to have more than 140 issuers across more than 80 different blockchains and more than 12 standardized metrics per asset.
Cryptopolitan reported that the value of real-world assets on blockchain networks has skyrocketed by 232% in 2025, reaching $18.6 billion, up from $5.6 billion in 2024. The report credits the sudden growth to the recent increase in institutional adoption and investments.
The year saw traditional assets such as bonds, commodities, and private credit undergo tokenization. The report noted that tokenized equities witnessed significant growth in RWAs, bringing traditional stocks and ETFs onto the blockchain. Metals such as Gold and Silver can also be traded publicly as perpetual contracts on exchanges such as Hyperliquid.
In Asia, the United Arab Emirates exported its real estate tokenization expertise to Georgia earlier this week. PRYPCO Mint, the first licensed real estate tokenization platform in the UAE, partnered with the Dubai Land Department and VARA (Dubai’s Virtual Regulatory Authority) to tokenize ownership certificates. The first tokenized certificate attracted 224 investors from over 40 different nationalities with an average investment of $2,900.
The report noted that PRYPCO signed an MOU with the Ministry of Justice of Georgia, which mandates both parties to explore, develop, and implement an innovative real estate tokenization initiative in the U.S. state. In Europe, Swift announced it had completed a tokenized assets pilot with BNP Paribas Securities Services, Intesa Sanpaolo, and Société Générale. The coalition developed mechanisms for the exchange and settlement of tokenized bonds.
Crypto execs predict tokenization will continue to grow in 2026
According to Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, tokenized assets will redefine global trading activities. As previously reported by Cryptopolitan on January 11, the Coinbase executive mentioned that tokenized stocks will expand their international access and continue to offer fractional stock purchases and round-the-clock trading. He added that they will provide perpetual futures, real-time settlement, and novel governance innovations.
Armstrong said Coinbase developers are building an all-inclusive exchange platform that will include different financial markets outside crypto, such as stocks and commodities, in 2026. The plan is set to position Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange, as a competitor in the stock and equities brokerage industry. Coinbase recently partnered with Kalshi, a rapidly growing prediction market, to advance tokenization of betting and prediction markets.
Last year, the Head of Operations at Bitfinex Securities, Jesse Knutson, also mentioned that emerging markets are expected to drive strong growth in real-world asset tokenization this year. According to Knutson, tokenization allows retail investors to access investments that WOULD otherwise be costly to them by owning a fraction of the asset. He also revealed that organizations find it easy to provide fixed returns to investors but struggle to acquire stable traditional funding to benefit most from asset tokenization.
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