- There is a ‘double standard’ problem facing the tokenized assets ecosystem.
- DeFi companies should not discuss minimum standards amid high expectations.
- Regulatory elements are the potential catalysts for the tokenized asset sector.
DeFi executives and stakeholders have highlighted several issues hindering the industry’s development, and proposed methods to address challenges and create a consistent ecosystem that will enable innovation to thrive.
The experts expressed their opinions during a meeting organized by NOWNodes as one of the side events of Consensus 2026 in Miami. The meeting’s discussion panel included industry experts from Crypto.com, Zerion, Solflare, Li.Fi, the $TON Foundation, Paxos, Houdini Swap and Globalstake, while the discussion focused on what it takes to build successful tokenized systems and the impact on those affected if they fail.
Scale under pressure
Li.Fi CEO Philipp Zenter called the industry’s double standards a crucial brake on the sector’s development. He questioned the prevailing scenario where users believe stablecoins are backed by cash from a private, unaudited company, but doubt the reality of tokenized real-world assets.
Responding to the same issue, Vidor Gence, co-founder of Solflare, explained how his team works, noting that they run five RPC providers simultaneously, comparing responses for high-priority transactions. According to Gence, his company compares data accuracy across RPC providers when handling high-priority cases.
Abi Dharshan of Zerion had a different perspective on the issue. He appreciated the fallout from the meme coin super cycle, describing it as the stress test the industry needed. According to Dharshan, this chaotic cycle caused projects to invest significantly in data accuracy, data redundancy, real-time pricing and transaction landing. He believes the backlash of meme coins has made people realize what future institutions need.
Meanwhile, Kwon Park, Global Head of Digital Assets at Crypto.com, said the consistency challenge facing tokenized systems is cultural. According to Park, the issue of a minimum standard should not exist for a company of Crypto.com’s size, which spans exchange, brokerage, credit and debit card and prediction markets. Park noted that his company’s goal is to always maintain high quality, which means he proactively invests in SOC 2 audits, NIST certifications, business continuity programs and cold wallet insurance.
Digging into risk-weighted assets
A deeper look into real-world asset tokenization compared the sector to the 2021 $NFT era, of which 95% of $NFT The market capitalization of collections had disappeared. Most experts rejected the comparison, arguing that NFTs are speculative collectibles with no underlying value or returns, while RWAs are tied to real assets, real regulations, and real institutional capital.
$TON Martin Masser, head of the Foundation’s Growth department, highlighted the need for traditional banks to upgrade their systems, noting that most of them are still using software from the 1960s. Meanwhile, Paxos’ Gary Chan argued that regulatory clarity remains the biggest enabler for tokenized assets. Chan noted that his company’s experience in the industry demonstrated the resilience of a well-regulated infrastructure, not its fragility.
According to Globalstake’s Ryan Haczynski, there is a less visible form of RWA liquidity that is often overlooked in the data: institutional players using tokenized assets as collateral to access stablecoin loans, and then deploying that capital in delta-neutral off-chain strategies. He sees this as one of many sophisticated things happening in a mix of on- and off-chain, which the data doesn’t necessarily reveal.
Overall, the panelists identified regulatory elements such as the Genius Act and broader legislative momentum as potential catalysts for the tokenized asset sector. According to Elias Enriquez of Houdini Swap, the real unlock isn’t a single scheme, but seamless interoperability and privacy across the chain that’s robust enough to bring in users who have never touched a wallet.
Related: DTCC sets timeline for launch of tokenized assets in 2026