When you have access to certain things you gain the ability to amplify other things.
Tokenization and generally putting everything on-chain enables global access to wealth and this in turn aids in the amplification of individual influence over the economies of the world.
Right now, many people don't understand why this is all so important and maybe even institutions who spearhead these real world assets (RWAs) tokenization don't also know what the long term effects of these movements look like.
Whenever institutional players talk about tokenization, they talk about all the money they can make whereas what tokenization really does in the long-term is take away that centralized privilege of extracting value from the public.
It is absolutely cute to watch it all happen in real time and all these people can really imagine is a world where they control global assets markets, on decentralized blockchains.
Sure, one can argue that technically they can since much of these things are being built on hybrid chains, centralized L2s or permissioned L1s, but where there's a problem with this argument is that it ignores that every one of this bridges to decentralized ecosystems.
I guess we can say that integrated cross-chain solutions, essentially interoperability, is the kill switch for centralized control over asset markets.
I recently came across an opinion piece on Cointelegraph that discussed the potential of real estate tokenization that's being overlooked by crypto leaders.
It specifically explores how tokenization is about access to wealth and not previously liquid markets and it's worth highlighting a couple paragraphs from the article.
During Paris Blockchain Week, Securitize Chief Operating Officer Michael Sonnenshein made headlines by dismissing real estate as a sub-optimal asset class for tokenization. This isn’t the first time crypto leaders have underestimated the merits of bringing real estate onchain, and it is likely not the last. While I respect Sonnenshein’s contributions to digital asset adoption, his assessment misses fundamental points about real estate tokenization’s transformative potential.
Real estate represents the world’s largest asset class and is projected to reach a value of $654.39 trillion this year, according to Statista. When industry leaders claim that this massive market isn’t suitable for tokenization, they overlook today's transformative infrastructure and the core value proposition that extends far beyond liquidity, transforming access to the asset class.
Crypto leaders underestimate the true potential of real estate tokenization. Tokenizing property isn’t just about liquidity — it’s about democratizing access, reducing inefficiencies, and building a new era of wealth creation.
Sonnenshein argues that “good systems” already exist for traditional assets. He implies that tokenization offers marginal improvements at best, but this assessment overlooks fundamental inefficiencies in today’s real estate market that tokenization addresses. — Cointelegraph
“Good systems” is such a fun thing to say about the rigidity of traditional assets markets and this is also exactly why institutions will fail to keep control in decentralized economies as much as they'd want because the strategy of developing the “good systems” which generally translates to centralized and rigid, will continue into the blockchain world and that would only lead to users moving away to space where they can attain access to wealth and essentially power.
People want access to incentives, people want to get rid of inefficiencies, people want to avoid high fees and long wait periods, people want flexibility and zero imposed surveillance or restrictions. Some, if not all of these things will be attempted by institutions tokenizing real world assets because that's generally how they get to make the most money and that would open up the markets for competitions where the alternatives will offer permissionless fractionalized access, essentially enabling users afford to amplify their power and influence on a global asset market through micro investments.
Imagine what 4 billion people investing $100 over a period in a specific market look like. Definitely a power shift scenario, no?