Morgan Stanley and Oliver Wyman Project Tokenized Assets at $2.3 Trillion by 2030

Morgan Stanley and Oliver Wyman put tokenized assets near $2.3 trillion by 2030

Morgan Stanley and Oliver Wyman estimate that tokenized real-world assets will reach about $2.3 trillion by 2030. Tokenization means putting ownership of an asset, such as a bond or a fund share, into a digital token that is recorded on a blockchain, a shared digital ledger.

The estimate comes from the firms' joint 2026 asset and wealth management report, titled "Breaking from the Pack: The Race for Above-Market Growth." The report describes the $2.3 trillion figure as a base-case projection, not a fixed outcome.

The forecast centers on institutions using tokenized assets to manage collateral and cash, rather than a broad migration of every investment product onto blockchains. Collateral is an asset pledged as security, often when borrowing or settling a trade.

The numbers behind the forecast

• About $1.7 trillion of the base case is tied to collateral mobility and asset utility.
• Reserve and treasury management accounts for another $400 billion.
• Global securities distribution adds about $200 billion.
• Operating efficiencies add about $80 billion, and access and transferability in private markets add about $10 billion.
• About $1.3 trillion of the total would be managed assets that asset managers can address.

All of these are approximate 2030 base-case estimates. The authors expect adoption to concentrate first in money-market funds and Treasury securities used for cash management, reserves and collateral.

Why collateral is the main case

The report says the economic case starts with how collateral moves. Cash, Treasury securities and money-market holdings are spread across different custodians and settlement systems, and moving or substituting collateral can take hours or days.

By contrast, eligible tokenized assets could be transferred and pledged across venues in near real time, according to the report. That could reduce the need to prefund transactions or hold extra liquidity buffers.

Faster settlement matters more than lower fees

The report does not expect cheaper fees to drive near-term adoption. Its comparison of tokenized funds with their closest traditional alternatives found a modest fee premium, which the authors say likely reflects the added cost of building and servicing blockchain-based products.

Instead, the report argues that faster settlement, collateral mobility and broader access must justify the switch.

What tokenization cannot fix in private markets

The report draws a limit around private markets. It says tokenization can improve ownership records and transfers, but cannot by itself create buyer demand, reliable valuations or secondary-market liquidity.

An example already in use

The report says this use of tokenized investments is already taking shape. As The Defiant previously reported, Securitize's HINC tokenized credit fund became collateral on Loopscale. That allowed eligible investors to borrow the USDG stablecoin against their shares without redeeming the position. A stablecoin is a crypto token designed to hold a steady value, usually tied to the US dollar.

What is confirmed and what is uncertain

The report's headline number is a projection, not a confirmed result. Alongside the $2.3 trillion base case, the authors model a limited-adoption scenario of $1.1 trillion and a widespread-adoption scenario of $5.5 trillion by 2030.

The central forecast assumes a constructive regulatory environment, delivery of planned infrastructure connecting blockchain networks, and continued acceleration in industry investment. The report says activity for now remains fragmented across networks, and secondary liquidity is limited. Scaling the collateral opportunity would require assets and cash to move reliably between venues, supported by institutional-grade settlement and custody.

Sources

• The Defiant