How asset tokenisation works
An issuer or a platform holds the asset, or issues it directly in digital form, and creates tokens that each stand for a unit or a fraction of it. The token contract keeps the register of holders and can carry the rules of transfer: who may hold the token, lock-ups, and payments of interest or dividends.
The link between token and asset is legal, not technical. It rests on the terms of issue, on a custodian that keeps the underlying asset, and on the law that recognises the ledger entry as the record of ownership.
The Bank for International Settlements defines tokenisation as the process of representing claims digitally on a programmable platform.
Which rules apply to a tokenised asset
In the EU the answer follows the asset. MiCA does not apply to crypto-assets that qualify as financial instruments, as deposits, or as funds other than e-money tokens: recital 9 says they stay under existing financial services law, whatever technology issues or transfers them. MiCA also leaves out crypto-assets that are unique and not fungible with others.
Why asset tokenisation matters to a product
Tokenisation offers fractional units, settlement at any hour, and delivery against payment in stablecoins on the same ledger. The product still needs the licence that fits the underlying asset, and custody of both the tokens and the assets behind them.
Asset tokenisation or payment tokenisation?
- Payment tokenisation
- Replaces a card number with a substitute value, so that the real number is not stored or sent. Nothing is issued on a blockchain.
- Asset-backed token
- The result: a token whose value rests on assets held for its holders. Tokenisation is the process that creates it.
- Securitisation
- Pools loans or receivables and issues securities against them. Tokenisation records an asset on a ledger and does not pool or restructure it.
Where Asset tokenisation shows up in a platform
Modules that do the work
- Custody & walletsWallets on every major chain, with MPC custody from leading providers or your own keys.
- LedgerThe double-entry book of record behind every balance, fee and transfer.
- PortfoliosHoldings, performance and statements for investors, across stocks and ETFs.
Platforms that need it
Guides that go deeper
Where it is written
The laws and standards this page's facts come from.
- Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, MiCA, Article 2 and recital 9 (EUR-Lex)
- BIS, Annual Economic Report 2023, chapter III, Blueprint for the future monetary system, 25 June 2023
General information, not legal advice: what applies to you depends on your services and your market.