INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS AND WEALTH MANAGERS BELIEVE TOKENIZED ETFS WILL DRIVE MAINSTREAM MARKET ADOPTION

(MENAFN- Perceptiona) Barriers to the expansion of tokenization are starting to fall as major investment firms consider launching tokenized ETFs, according to new global research (1) by London-based Nickel Digital Asset Management (Nickel), Europe’s leading digital assets hedge fund manager founded by alumni of Bankers Trust, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan.
Its study with institutional investors and wealth managers at organisations which collectively manage over $14 trillion in assets found almost all (97%) believe the potential launch of tokenized ETFs such as BlackRock’s will be important to the expansion of the sector with nearly one in three (32%) rating the development as very important.
The study also reflected the belief that tokenization will continue to growth, with nearly 70% of respondents believing that fund managers looking to tokenize investment funds and asset classes will increase over the next three years.
Nickel’s research with firms in the US, UK, Germany, Switzerland, Singapore, Brazil and the United Arab Emirates found growing awareness of the benefits of tokenization. Private markets are seen as offering the greatest potential for tokenization, with almost 70% seeing private equity funds as the asset class with the most opportunity, followed by fixed income (55%) and public equities (42%).
Reduced settlement times, enhanced risk management capabilities and lower costs were ranked as the least attractive benefits.
The study found there are still concerns about the expansion of tokenization, with nearly three out of four (73%) questioned highlighting distribution issues as one of the top five barriers to adoption of tokenization by professional investors, while 70% pointed to issues over service provider maturity.
Around 60% ranked reluctance to change as one of their top five barriers while 62% highlighted security risks and 57% identified the current lack of tokenized assets. Just 28% were concerned about the lack of a track record in tokenization.
Anatoly Crachilov, CEO and Founding Partner at Nickel Digital, said: “Tokenization is quickly moving from theory to real-world adoption as institutional investors grow more comfortable with its benefits and see major players enter the space. When firms like BlackRock step in, it fundamentally shifts the conversation. This development is timely for our multi-manager vehicle as expanding liquidity depth will allow some of our pods are looking to start trading tokenized assets in the coming months.”

MENAFN26022026005559012273ID1110792792