This is a thematic page. It carries no Market Snapshot ratings; sector ratings remain on each sector page.
IWhat a token changes, and what it does not
A token is a digital record of a claim on an underlying asset, held on a shared ledger. For a physical asset it adds three things: ownership can be split into small units, transferred quickly between approved holders, and tracked without paper. In effect it creates shares in an asset, much as a company issues shares.
Everything that determines whether an investor can get a fair price and get out still sits off-chain: an agreed way to value the asset, a custodian who holds it, a legal right that the token represents, and buyers on the other side. Where those exist, tokenisation can lower costs and widen access. Where they do not, it reproduces an illiquid asset in a faster format.
The evidence so far supports the distinction. A 2025 review of on-chain data found that "most RWA tokens exhibit low trading volumes, long holding periods, and limited investor participation", with "minimal secondary trading" across most asset classes. Med 2 A Bank for International Settlements study of tokenised property found trading rose sharply after local shocks, but the liquidity depended on platforms offering buybacks, which carries insolvency risk for the platform. High 19
- Divide one asset into many small units
- Move title quickly between verified holders
- Keep a permanent record of transfers
- Automate distribution of sale proceeds
- Set a price where no reference price exists
- Create buyers or a market maker
- Prove the asset is what the certificate says
- Make two non-identical assets interchangeable
IIMarket size
Tokenised real-world assets remain small next to the markets they draw on, and are dominated by financial instruments. Gold is the only physical scarce asset with a token market of material size.
| Measure | Value | Confidence | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total tokenised real-world assets, 11 Mar 2026 (DeFiLlama) | $23.6bnReported | Med | 1 |
| Change since 1 Jan 2026 (from $14.1bn) | +66%Reported | Med | 1 |
| of which tokenised funds (Treasuries, bonds, money-market) | $10.5bnReported | Med | 1 |
| of which gold and other commodities | ~$6.5bnReported | Med | 1 |
| Tokenised gold market capitalisation, Feb 2026 | >$5.4bnReported | Med | 3 |
| Tokenised gold trading volume, Q4 2025 | $126bnReported | Low | 3 |
| Tokenised gold market, end-2026 (market maker's projection) | $15bnForecast | Low | 3 |
| Tokenised diamonds, coloured gemstones, wine, art | Not established | Hyp | — |
Totals differ by tracker and by what each counts as a real-world asset; a 2025 academic review put the figure above $25bn. 2 The gold volume and forecast come from a single market maker with a commercial interest in the segment. No tracker reviewed reports a separate figure for gemstones or collectibles.
IIIPreconditions by sector
Gold shows what a token needs to work: a published reference price set by trades, a standard unit, and redemption into that unit. Each sector below is read against those three conditions.
| Sector | Reference price | Standard unit | Token or fractional precedent | Conditions met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | LBMA Gold Price: a regulated benchmark set twice daily by electronic auction, administered by ICE Benchmark Administration 4 | Fine troy ounce held in LBMA vaults 5 | PAXG, XAUT and others; >$5.4bn combined 3 | All met |
| Fine wine | Liv-ex Mid Price: midpoint of best bid and offer on a trade platform; drives the Fine Wine 100 index 7 | Named wine and vintage, the unit Liv-ex prices and indexes 7 | Not established in the sources reviewed | Partly met |
| Dubai real estate | Title registered by a government land department, which runs the token pilot itself 9 | None: each property unique | Prypco Mint pilot (May 2025): AED 2,000 minimum, UAE ID holders, AED only, with VARA and the Central Bank 9 | Partly met |
| Natural diamonds | None set by trades. The Rapaport list is sellers' asking prices and "isn't a record of actual transaction prices" 6 | None: each stone graded individually; pooling into standard units attempted 11 | Diamond Standard coins and tokens; Icecap single-stone NFTs; several UAE proposals (Section IV) 11 12 14 | Not met |
| Coloured gemstones | None. Valuers rely on auction comparables 17 | None: each stone valued individually 17 | Proposed at the Dubai Diamond Conference, Oct 2026; not launched 14 | Not met |
| Art | None. Value is set at sale of the work | None: each work unique | Masterworks: SEC-qualified Reg A shares (securities, not tokens); >$1.2bn invested, 32 exits, trading venue since Jan 2025 8 | Not met |
"Conditions met" counts the three preconditions above as the cited sources describe them: all, some or none. It is a description, not a rating; no Σ grade on any market page changes because of it. Masterworks figures are the company's own and marked by it as pending confirmation 8; they are shown because fractional art is the closest large-scale precedent, and its exit route is still the sale of the whole work.
IVCase study: natural diamonds
Diamonds have strong provenance infrastructure but no transaction price and no standard unit. A decade of attempts has improved the first; none has solved the second.
Earlier attempts
| Initiative | What it did | Outcome | Confidence | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Everledger (2015) | Blockchain provenance records for diamonds and other luxury goods; raised over $51.7m | Entered voluntary administration, April 2023, after a funding round fell through | High | 10 |
| Diamond Standard (2018) | Pools GIA-graded diamonds into standard coins and bars, tokenised as Bitcarbon; operates its own order-book spot market | Operating; reported Bermuda regulation. Pricing set through its own exchange, not an independent benchmark | Low | 11 20 |
| Icecap | One NFT per GIA-certified, vaulted stone, redeemable for the stone | No published volume or holder data found | Low | 12 |
| Tracr (De Beers; GIA agreed a 30% stake, May 2026) | Provenance, not ownership: records rough from recovery through polishing | More than 5m rough diamonds registered, about two-thirds of De Beers' rough by value | High | 13 |
Models presented in Dubai, October 2026
Three issuers described live or planned models at the Dubai Diamond Conference. Descriptions are as stated on stage and are not independently verified. Med 14
Fractions of one stone
A certified, insured rare stone is held in custody and divided into tokens. Valuation sits with the issuer, which is also the source of the stone.
Open issue: who sets the price at entry and exit
Independent valuation before minting
Stone placed in a separate legal entity, valued independently before tokens are issued; trading only between approved investors. The issuer stated: "Diamonds are not gold. There is no spot price."
Open issue: no revaluation cadence stated
Pool priced from public data
Value aggregated across a pool of GIA-graded stones, priced from published retail data and disclosed algorithms, so individual grading errors average out.
Open issue: retail prices sit above the wholesale price an investor realises on exit
Three problems still open
No benchmark is set by completed trades. List and platform prices are asking prices 6. A token's value therefore rests on an appraisal, and appraisal methods differ by issuer.
The grading report functions as the title document. Conference speakers noted that grading varies between laboratories and over time, and that the same laboratories grade both natural and laboratory-grown stones. 14
Exits run through redemption to the issuer or a closed investor pool. One law firm cites redemption spreads of 8–15% for gemstone tokens. Low 17
VThe UAE framework
Dubai has a specific regime for asset-backed tokens, and a working state-backed precedent in property. Neither yet resolves how a non-standard asset is valued.
| Element | Position | Confidence | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regulator and rulebook | VARA issued its first asset-referenced token rules in 2023; asset-backed tokens are now issued under the ARVA Issuance Rulebook (Category 1) | Med | 15 16 |
| Backing and custody | Fully backed by reserve assets held with licensed custodians and segregated from the issuer's funds | Med | 16 |
| Audit | Independent audit of tokens in circulation and reserve assets every six months | Med | 16 |
| Redemption | Holders entitled to redeem at par, in AED or as set out in the white paper | Med | 16 |
| Capital | Greater of AED 1.5m or 2% of the average market value of reserve assets | Med | 16 |
| Valuation method | Not prescribed. VARA said it will assess whether a proposed method is credible and legible to investors, and called mark-to-market for diamonds "a very difficult one to solve" | Med | 14 |
| Settlement currency | Under the Central Bank's 2024 Payment Token Services Regulation, foreign-currency payment tokens may be used onshore only to buy virtual assets. Settling physical diamond trades in USD stablecoins therefore appears restricted outside the financial free zones; application to DMCC is an inference, not stated | Hyp | 18 |
"Redemption at par" is straightforward where par is a gold price or a currency. For a token backed by a diamond, par is an appraisal. The rule therefore moves the valuation problem onto the appraiser and the revaluation schedule, rather than removing it. Hyp
VIIndicators to monitor
- Publication of any diamond price index built on completed transactions rather than asking prices, and who administers it.
- VARA approvals of gemstone-backed tokens, and the valuation methods disclosed in their white papers.
- Secondary-market activity in issued gemstone tokens: holders, transfers and redemptions, against the low turnover found for tokenised assets generally 2.
- Whether grading laboratories adopt a common standard that separates natural from laboratory-grown stones in a form investors can read.
- Growth of tokenised gold relative to gold ETFs, as the test case for whether tokens add liquidity where a benchmark already exists 3.
- Expansion of the Dubai Land Department pilot beyond UAE ID holders, as a signal of how far regulators will open asset tokens to foreign retail investors 9.
VIISources
- Cointelegraph, citing DeFiLlama, "Tokenized RWAs rise 66% in 2026", 11 Mar 2026 — accessed 27 Oct 2026
- R. Mafrur, "Tokenize Everything, But Can You Sell It? RWA Liquidity Challenges and the Road Ahead", arXiv 2508.11651, Aug 2025 — accessed 27 Oct 2026
- The Block, "Wintermute launches institutional tokenized gold trading", 16 Feb 2026 — accessed 27 Oct 2026
- LBMA, "LBMA Gold Price" — accessed 27 Oct 2026
- Paxos, "PAX Gold" — accessed 27 Oct 2026
- Rapaport, "Rapaport Price Lists: your guide to diamond pricing tools" — accessed 27 Oct 2026
- Liv-ex, "Press pack" — accessed 27 Oct 2026
- Masterworks, "Masterworks by the Numbers: Annual Platform Performance Review", Jul 2026 — accessed 27 Oct 2026
- Dubai Land Department, "DLD launches the MENA's first tokenized real estate project through the Prypco Mint platform", 25 May 2025 — accessed 27 Oct 2026
- Jewellery Monthly, "Everledger enters administration", May 2023 — accessed 27 Oct 2026
- Wikipedia, "Diamond Standard" (secondary; company claims not independently confirmed) — accessed 27 Oct 2026
- Chainlink, "Tokenized Diamonds Explained" — accessed 27 Oct 2026
- GIA, "GIA and Tracr", 29 May 2026 — accessed 27 Oct 2026
- Dubai Diamond Conference 2026, panel and showcase remarks, Dubai, 26 Oct 2026 (attended; not independently verified)
- VARA, "VARA defines issuance rules to be the global standard on asset reference tokens", 12 Oct 2023 — accessed 27 Oct 2026
- Unlock Blockchain (KARM Legal), "Inside VARA's ARVA Framework", 30 May 2025 — accessed 27 Oct 2026
- Neo Legal, "Tokenised Diamonds & High-Value Gemstones Under VARA Category 1", 16 May 2026 (law-firm explainer) — accessed 27 Oct 2026
- CMS, "The new CBUAE Payment Token Services Regulation: 10 things you need to know", 8 Aug 2024 — accessed 27 Oct 2026
- G. Cornelli, "When bricks meet bytes: does tokenisation fill gaps in traditional real estate markets?", BIS Working Paper 1311, Nov 2025, rev. Jun 2026 — accessed 27 Oct 2026
- CoinDesk via Yahoo Finance, "Investors flock to tokenized diamond as crypto banking crisis props hard assets", 16 Mar 2023 — accessed 27 Oct 2026