Tokenized assets now exceed $31 billion

The market for tokenized real-world assets closed on 14 May 2026 at $31.4 billion, up from $11.2 billion in June 2025. That is +180% in under twelve months, along a solidly sustained trajectory: $15.3 billion in September 2025, $21.5 billion in January 2026, $29.2 billion in April, and $31.4 billion in mid-May. On top of that asset base also sits a $305 billion stablecoin settlement layer — confirmation that the payment and settlement rails for tokenized assets are fully operational at institutional scale.

The underlying transformation is visible both in composition and in volume, and it has direct implications for those of us operating in the European tokenized financing market.

Private credit: the most significant dynamic in the sector

Private credit, broadly defined, currently concentrates the most significant dynamic in the sector. The three base categories of tokenized credit combined (secured credit, specialty finance, and corporate debt) total around $4.5 billion. Growth rates are reaching four digits, which is normal in a nascent and expanding industry. These are the opening movements of the transformation of private capital, which has historically sat outside financial liquidity systems. Yields offered, moreover, typically range between 8% and 12%.

The traditional private credit market is estimated at between $1.6 and $3.5 trillion, depending on the source and definition used. This means that current tokenization penetration represents a minimal fraction of the underlying market — and explains why available projections for the market as a whole in 2030 range from $2 to $16 trillion.

The tokenized real estate vertical, although it shows globally more modest volumes, goes hand in hand with private credit, which serves as its engine. Institutional participation is taking shape, and medium-term projections are among the most aggressive in the sector as a whole: available estimates place tokenized real estate at around $3 trillion by 2030, with very significant compound annual growth rates.

Relevance for Europe

European SMEs depend almost exclusively on bank financing (around 75% according to the European Commission), despite representing 99% of the business landscape, two-thirds of employment, and close to 60% of value added in the EU. Tokenized financing under the DLT Pilot Regime and Spain's Securities Markets and Investment Services Act (LMVSI) is, as of today, one of the few new avenues opening up for that segment without going through traditional banking.

The figures behind the global trend — $31.4 billion in mid-May versus $11.2 billion eleven months ago — measure speed. What has settled into place is infrastructure: blockchain-native issuance, atomic settlement, ISIN identification, regulated secondary markets under construction, and an explicit legal framework in Spain and the EU.

For the mid-sized European issuer, the operational question is no longer whether tokenization can work, but rather which asset class, which type of infrastructure, and which type of operation.