The United States needs to establish a competitive moat around highly secure tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) to remain competitive in the age of borderless, permissionless finance, according to Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov.

In an interview with Cointelegraph’s Turner Wright at the Digital Asset Summit in New York, Nazarov said that blockchain is a global phenomenon that relies on open-source software and distributed technology, unlike previous technological shifts.

The executive added that the shift to online commerce, which gave the US a competitive advantage due to a five- to 10-year head start on the development of internet infrastructure, is not applicable in the age of digital finance. The executive told Cointelegraph:

“The US really has to push its other two advantages of a very strong domestic market and the ability for it to create these highly reliable financial assets. And this is what I think the administration and the people in the legislature are now starting to understand.”

Real-world tokenized assets could become a $100-trillion market in the coming years, as the world’s assets come onchain, the Chainlink executive predicted.

Sergey Nazarov takes part in a panel at the 2025 Digital Asset Summit. Source: Turner Wright/Cointelegraph

Related: Ethena Labs, Securitize launch blockchain for DeFi and tokenized assets

Tokenized RWAs reach all-time highs

According to RWA.xyz, real-world tokenized assets, excluding stablecoins, hit an all-time high in 2025, topping $18.8 billion.

Private credit took up the lion’s share of the total RWA market capitalization, with over $12.2 billion in tokenized private credit instruments permeating the market at the time of this writing.

Total tokenized real-world assets, excluding stablecoins. Source: RWA.xyz

Asset tokenization can make previously illiquid asset classes, such as real estate, more liquid, eliminating the illiquidity discount inherent in physical properties.

In February, Polygon CEO Marc Boiron told Cointelegraph that tokenizing real estate could fractionalize ownership, eliminate intermediaries, and lower settlement costs —transforming the slow-moving sector.

This real estate overhaul can be seen in Turkey, with projects such as Lumia Towers, a 300-unit mixed-use commercial real estate development that was tokenized using Polygon’s technology.

It’s also taking place in the United Arab Emirates, which is considered one of the hottest property markets in the world. Proactive digital asset regulations are driving a tokenized RWA boom in the Gulf state as institutional investors and developers flock to tokenization as an alternative method of capital formation.

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