Citigroup Sees Tokenized Assets Hitting $8.2T

Citigroup says tokenized assets could reach $8.2 trillion by 2030.

Citigroup has put a hard number on the tokenization story: $5.5 trillion in its base case and $8.2 trillion in its bull case by 2030. That is a huge jump from today’s estimated $43 billion market, and it explains why banks, exchanges, and blockchain networks are treating tokenization less like a side project and more like core infrastructure.

The real signal here is not the headline number. It is the mix of institutions now building around tokenized funds, tokenized stocks, commodities, private credit, and real estate, with Citigroup pointing to live adoption rather than lab demos.

The forecast is big because the base is still small

Citigroup’s numbers look extreme until you compare them with the current market. If tokenized assets are worth about $43 billion now, then even the lower end of Citi’s forecast implies a massive expansion over the next four years. The bull case is even more aggressive, and it assumes tokenization moves from niche issuance into everyday market plumbing.

That matters because tokenization is no longer confined to crypto-native products. The article points to tokenized funds already making up close to 80% of the sector’s market capitalization, which means the biggest early use case is financial packaging, not speculative trading.

Tokenization turns ownership rights into blockchain-based units that can be issued, transferred, and settled with less manual friction. In practice, that can shorten settlement times, simplify recordkeeping, and open up fractional access to assets that were hard to trade in smaller pieces.

• Current market size: about $43 billion
• Citi base case: $5.5 trillion by 2030
• Citi bull case: $8.2 trillion by 2030
• Tokenized funds: close to 80% of sector value

Institutional adoption is doing the heavy lifting

The strongest part of Citi’s thesis is the list of institutions already testing or deploying tokenization tools. The article names DTCC and Nasdaq as examples of legacy market infrastructure firms adding blockchain-based workflows for issuance and settlement.

That is a very different signal from a startup pilot. When infrastructure providers start using distributed ledger systems, the goal is usually less drama and more throughput, fewer reconciliation steps, and cleaner asset transfer records. In other words, tokenization starts looking like plumbing.

“The tokenization of assets is a trend that is likely to continue,” Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, said on CNBC in 2024.

BlackRock’s own tokenized money market fund, BUIDL, gives that comment real-world weight. Once the world’s largest asset manager starts issuing tokenized products, it becomes harder to dismiss tokenization as a crypto-only experiment.

That institutional pull is also why the story extends beyond treasury products. The article says tokenized equity and commodity offerings are rolling out too, which suggests the market is moving from simple cash-like instruments into a wider range of assets.

Where the value is concentrated today

Token Terminal’s data, cited in the article, helps explain why Citi thinks the sector can grow so quickly. Tokenized funds account for almost 80% of total market capitalization, while tokenized stocks make up 3.8% and commodities account for 16.6%.

That mix tells you the market is still early and heavily skewed toward products that fit existing financial workflows. Funds are easier to standardize than equities or physical commodities, so they usually arrive first. Stocks and commodities are more complex, but they also point to where the bigger opportunity sits if tokenization keeps spreading.

Network share data adds another layer. Ethereum accounts for 57.8% of monitored tokenized asset value, BNB Chain has 8.5%, zkSync Era has 7.5%, Stellar has 5.4%, and XRP Ledger has 5.8%.

• Tokenized funds: nearly 80% of sector value
• Tokenized stocks: 3.8%
• Tokenized commodities: 16.6%
• Ethereum: 57.8% of monitored value
• BNB Chain: 8.5%
• zkSync Era: 7.5%
• Stellar: 5.4%
• XRP Ledger: 5.8%

What Citi’s forecast means for the next phase

Citi’s forecast is less a price target than a warning shot for the rest of finance. If tokenized assets grow from $43 billion to even the low end of the bank’s estimate, then custody, compliance, settlement, and market access all need to change with it.

That creates pressure on banks, exchanges, and blockchain networks to support real-world issuance at scale, not just token trading. It also explains why tokenization is spreading across private credit, equities, and real estate instead of staying inside crypto’s usual sandbox.

The next question is whether the market can move from isolated products to shared financial infrastructure. If Citigroup’s numbers are directionally right, the winning firms will be the ones that make tokenized assets easy to issue, easy to settle, and easy to trust before the rest of the market catches up.

For readers following this shift, the useful metric is not hype. It is how quickly tokenized funds, equities, and commodities move from pilot programs into standard offerings at major institutions.

Related reading: BlackRock’s tokenized fund push and why Ethereum keeps leading tokenized assets.