Digital assets' promise faces growing regulatory setbacks

GENEVA, 21 SEPTEMBER 2026 —

Tokenised real‑world assets (RWAs) crossed the US$30 billion threshold in 2026, yet a wave of regulatory setbacks is curbing the sector’s momentum, a senior writer on fintech law reported on September 21.

According to venture‑capital firm a16z Crypto, the market for tokenised RWAs has expanded ten‑fold over the past two years to US$38.82 billion, with nearly half of that value held in U.S. Treasury debt. “While U.S. Treasuries dominate today, the asset class is broadening, with more categories gaining meaningful share in recent quarters,” a16z said.

Major financial institutions have begun to test the space. BlackRock’s BUIDL fund alone holds US$2.9 billion in tokenised U.S. Treasuries, while Franklin Templeton and JPMorgan are also exploring tokenised products.

Digital‑asset exchange OKX highlighted the rapid growth in a recent X post, noting that the sector is “up 70%+ this year.” In an October 2025 blog, OKX added that “the tokenisation of RWAs is revolutionising the financial landscape, with blockchain technology and the dollar playing roles in this transformation,” and projected the market could reach US$10 trillion by 2030.

OKX cautioned that the sector’s potential remains constrained by three key issues. First, the absence of secondary markets limits liquidity for many tokenised assets. Second, infrastructure gaps across platforms hinder seamless trading and settlement. Most, “regulatory frameworks are still evolving, creating uncertainty for market participants,” the exchange warned.

The regulatory bottleneck was echoed by Juan Marchetti, director of the trade‑in‑services and investment division at the World Trade Organization, who spoke at the launch of a WTO report on September 14. Marchetti said, “the constraint is not technology. It is actually regulation and the lack of development of regulatory frameworks,” a sentiment reported by Cointelegraph.

Marchetti cited an October 2025 Financial Stability Board (FSB) survey that found only five of the 28 jurisdictions surveyed – representing 21 % – had finalised a comprehensive stablecoin regulatory framework, and just eleven jurisdictions – 39 % – had completed crypto‑asset frameworks. The survey counted the European Union’s 27 member states as a single jurisdiction.

Established stablecoin regimes now exist in the European Union under the Markets in Crypto‑Assets (MiCA) regime, the United States through the GENIUS Act, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, while Australia applies existing financial‑services rules. Frameworks are under development in the United Kingdom (due October 2027), Canada and South Korea. Major digital‑asset hubs such as India, Switzerland, Brazil and South Africa still lack clear, comprehensive regimes.

The FSB’s analysis concluded that, despite broad convergence on core principles such as licensing, reserve requirements and redemption rights, global stablecoin regulation remains “incomplete, uneven and inconsistent,” creating cross‑border gaps. It issued eight recommendations, including closing regulatory gaps for crypto‑asset service providers (CASPs) and global stablecoins, strengthening data‑and‑risk‑monitoring capabilities, ensuring consistent regulatory approaches, and enhancing cross‑border cooperation, information sharing, supervision and crisis‑preparedness to mitigate crypto‑related financial‑stability risks.

Stablecoins currently account for only 3 % of total international payments, a figure the WTO attributes to the regulatory fragmentation.

Marchetti outlined the potential upside for trade finance if stablecoins were fully integrated.

He noted that blockchain‑based settlement can occur near real‑time and operate continuously (24/7), reducing delays and improving liquidity management; fewer intermediaries and automated settlement may lower payment‑processing costs; USD‑backed stablecoins can cut the need for multiple currency conversions; digital wallets provide an alternative payment rail; common blockchain networks facilitate interoperability among participants; and a relatively stable digital asset can serve treasury and transaction purposes.

“Contribution to trade will depend far less on the technology than on regulatory convergence, interoperability and the surrounding financial infrastructure, especially in developing economies that stand to gain,” Marchetti said.

A separate study by London‑based Nickel Digital Asset Management, reported by TheFinancial on September 10, reached similar conclusions for crypto exchange‑traded products (ETPs).

Interviews with 203 institutional investors and wealth managers across the United States, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Singapore, Brazil and the Nordics revealed that 84 % believe the expansion of crypto ETPs will normalise digital assets in allocation models within three years, with 26 % strongly agreeing.

Fifty‑one respondents, who do not currently invest in crypto or digital assets, intend to do so within the next 24 months, and 55 % said they are very likely to use crypto ETPs for the first time in the next two years to increase exposure or enter the market. Only 3 % said they were unsure or unlikely to adopt such products.

Both reports converge on a single message for Malaysia and the wider region: the pace of adoption for tokenised assets and crypto‑linked investment vehicles will be dictated not by technological capability but by the speed and coherence of regulatory action.

As Marchetti summed up, “the contribution to trade will depend far less on the technology than on regulatory convergence, interoperability and the surrounding financial infrastructure.” For regional markets such as Singapore, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates, which already host stablecoin regimes, the next step will be to align their frameworks with emerging global standards, close the gaps identified by the FSB, and provide the certainty needed for institutional capital to flow more freely into tokenised real‑world assets and crypto ETPs.

Related: OKX · World Trade Organization