Tokenized assets (RWAs)

What it refers to

Tokenized assets, also called real-world assets or RWAs, are tokens on a blockchain network whose value is linked to an asset that exists outside it, such as an equity, a commodity or a bond. Tokenized equities are a common example (often searched as tokenized stocks). Each token is created by an issuer, and the rights attached to it are set by that issuer's terms.

Tokenized assets are one of three asset categories on SODAX, alongside crypto assets and stablecoins.

Why this concept exists

Assets such as equities have traditionally been held and traded inside separate systems, each with its own hours, intermediaries and access rules. Tokenizing them lets them move and trade on the same networks as crypto assets and stablecoins, inside the apps people already use.

Creating a token on one network is only a start. To be useful, a tokenized asset has to be reachable on the networks and in the apps where people want it, with liquidity to trade it.

What this changes for system design

A system that carries tokenized assets has to treat them like any other asset: admit them under clear requirements, name them consistently and make them tradeable across networks.

SODAX admits tokenized assets through asset whitelisting, the same permissioned admission it uses for every asset, once an asset meets liquidity, reliability and risk requirements. SODAX never issues tokenized assets, and whitelisting is not listing. A whitelisted tokenized asset appears under its canonical parent name on every network where SODAX whitelists it, with no prefixed or renamed variant, and becomes available in every app that calls the SODAX API.

The current set of whitelisted assets, by category, is in the SODAX Asset Directory.

Related terms

• Asset whitelisting: how an asset enters SODAX
• Token Issuer: who creates the asset
• SODAX API: how apps offer it
• Liquidity provisioning: making an asset tradeable widely
• SODAX liquidity: what fills draw on