Top 5 Favorite Resources on Real-World Assets

Tokenization and the real-world assets sector evolves rapidly. In helping people get up to speed, we noticed that we kept sending over the same set of useful and foundational resources. Today we're excited to share those with you as well!

These five resources lay the groundwork for understanding how tokenization works, its challenges and promises ahead. Enjoy the list below:

1. The Unreal Primer on Real World Assets: A philosophical foray into what tokenization really is and where the industry is heading
2. Not Boring’s Everything is Broken: BlockTower on how blockchains can easily improve the securitization process
3. Bain’s Private Asset Investing Infrastructure: Dives deep into private asset’s biggest challenges, and thus tokenization’s opportunity.
4. SS&C’s Tokenization of Funds: Explores the opportunities for asset managers to gain competitive edge by tokenizing their investment funds on the blockchain
5. RWA.xyz: An interactive data dashboard showcasing protocols, issuers, and tokenized real-world assets.

1) An Unreal Primer on Real World Assets

First on our list is the Unreal Primer on Real World Assets. Published in September 2022 before the popularity of ‘real world assets’, this primer contributed greatly to the tokenization narrative. Written by Teej Ragsdale, Jack Chong and Mukund Venkatakrishnan, this 70-page primer walks through the potential and challenges of tokenization.

It includes legal structuring, smart contracts standards and different layers of tokenization tools. Lastly, they also made a few predictions about what types of assets would be tokenized, what product market fit looks like, and where value accrues in the ecosystem.

2) Not Boring: How Crypto Fixes the $14T Securitization Market

Published on Not Boring, a blog run by well-known tech writer Packy McCormick, the article is a deep dive into how blockchain technology can revolutionize credit securitizations.

The author, Kevin Miao, Head of Credit at BlockTower, argues that the current securitization systems are massively inefficient, with over 10 intermediaries involved with each transaction. He lays out how blockchains can massively improve the process as well as create entirely new products.

3\. Bain: Private Asset Investing Desperately Needs New Market Infrastructure

Published by Bain & Company, the article argues that for private asset markets to thrive, the current model must digitize and efficiently support individual investors at scale. Key barriers include high administrative costs, illiquidity, a difficult collateral process for lending, and high minimum investment size.

The authors also suggest that the largest wealth and asset managers will likely catalyze developments and be first-movers. Finally, the article highlights the potential role of distributed ledger technology in this transformation.

4\. SS&C: Tokenization of Funds - Mapping a Way Forward

Produced by SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc, the report explores the potential benefits, challenges, and implications of tokenizing investment funds on blockchain networks.

Asset managers will find this report useful as fund tokenization can widen investor distribution and improve operational efficiencies. It also discusses the current regulatory landscape, the role of various actors in the value chain, and how these might need to adapt in the face of tokenization.

5\. The RWA.xyz Analytics Platform

And lastly, humbly want to include ourselves in the final spot: RWA.xyz. To date, our platform covers billions of tokenized assets, from private credit deals to tokenized treasuries.

Our mission is to shine light on the burgeoning real-world asset sector and be a shepherd for investors navigating tokenized assets.

Apart from our dashboards, we also publish deep-dive research pieces. Our most recent one was An Allocator's Guide to Tokenized Treasuries, which covered the various issues from Franklin Templeton to young startups like OpenEden. For each, the report surveys the legal, financial, and technical nuances so that asset allocators can better understand this nascent product category.

If you are a financial professional wanting to learn more about the tokenization of real-world assets, or a protocol interested in data integrations, please reach out team@rwa.xyz!

Here’s a concise recap of the five foundational resources on tokenization and real‑world assets (RWAs):

1. The Unreal Primer on Real World Assets

A 70‑page, pre‑hype deep dive into what tokenization really is and where it’s going. It covers:

• Legal structuring and how RWAs are wrapped on‑chain
• Smart contract standards and tokenization tooling layers
• Predictions on which assets get tokenized first, what product‑market fit looks like, and where value accrues in the stack

1. Not Boring – How Crypto Fixes the $14T Securitization Market

Written by Kevin Miao (BlockTower) and published on Packy McCormick’s Not Boring, this piece explains how today’s securitization market is:

• Fragmented and overloaded with intermediaries
• Operationally inefficient and opaque

It then lays out how blockchains can streamline securitization workflows and enable new credit products that aren’t feasible in legacy rails.

1. Bain – Private Asset Investing Desperately Needs New Market Infrastructure

Bain & Company analyzes why private markets are structurally constrained and what needs to change:

• Pain points: high admin costs, illiquidity, clunky collateralization, and high minimums
• The likely role of large wealth/asset managers as first movers
• How distributed ledger technology can underpin a more scalable, digital infrastructure for private assets

1. SS&C – Tokenization of Funds: Mapping a Way Forward

A practitioner‑oriented report for asset managers on tokenizing funds:

• Benefits: broader distribution, operational efficiency, and potential for new product structures
• Challenges: regulatory treatment, compliance, and integration with existing fund operations
• Value chain analysis: how administrators, custodians, and other intermediaries may need to adapt

1. RWA.xyz Analytics Platform

A live data and research hub for the RWA sector, tracking billions of tokenized assets across:

• Private credit, tokenized treasuries, and other on‑chain RWA categories
• Protocols, issuers, and specific asset pools

RWA.xyz also publishes research, including An Allocator’s Guide to Tokenized Treasuries, which compares offerings from incumbents (e.g., Franklin Templeton) to newer players (e.g., OpenEden), focusing on legal, financial, and technical design choices.

If you’re a financial professional exploring RWA tokenization or a protocol looking for data integrations, you can reach the RWA.xyz team at team@rwa.xyz.