Citigroup has released its latest research report, titled “Tokenization 2030: Wall Street On-Chain,” projecting that the global market for tokenized real-world assets could surge from approximately $17 billion today to $5.5 trillion by the end of the decade.
The report, shared with CoinDesk ahead of the Proof of Talk conference in Paris, outlines a base-case scenario alongside a range of outcomes. The low-end estimate sits at $2.7 trillion if adoption lags, while the bullish case reaches $8.2 trillion if institutional and regulatory momentum accelerates faster than expected.
This is not the first time a major bank has put a multi-trillion-dollar number on tokenization. Standard Chartered projected tokenized assets could reach $4 trillion by the end of 2028, and Bernstein called 2026 the start of a tokenization “supercycle” in a January report. But Citi’s latest forecast is notable because it ties the growth directly to infrastructure moves already underway at the heart of American capital markets.
The tokenized RWA market has already tripled since early 2025 and recently crossed the $34 billion mark, according to data from RWA.xyz, suggesting the momentum Citi is forecasting is already building in real time.
Wall Street’s core infrastructure is moving onchain
The most significant signal in the report is the involvement of systemically important market infrastructure providers.
The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), which custodies more than $114 trillion in assets and processes virtually every securities trade in the United States, announced in early May that it will begin limited production trades of tokenized securities in July 2026.
A full commercial launch of the platform is planned for October. More than 50 firms, including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Circle and Ondo Finance, are participating in the design and deployment of the service.
The SEC issued a no-action letter in December 2025 authorizing DTCC’s tokenization service for a three-year window, covering highly liquid assets such as Russell 1000 constituents, major index-tracking ETFs and U.S. Treasury securities.
Meanwhile, Nasdaq is developing a framework for companies to issue blockchain-based shares and has received SEC approval to allow certain stocks to be issued and traded in tokenized form, with a potential launch as early as 2027. Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, has also announced plans for tokenized stocks and ETFs.
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, announced in January 2026 the development of a platform for trading and on-chain settlement of tokenized securities. The platform will enable 24/7 trading of U.S. listed equities and ETFs, fractional share trading, immediate settlement, and stablecoin-based funding. In March, NYSE partnered with Securitize as the first digital transfer agent eligible to mint blockchain-native securities for corporate and ETF issuers on its upcoming tokenized platform.
More recently, DTCC partnered with the Stellar Development Foundation on May 27 to enable tokenization of DTC-custodied assets on the Stellar network, with the rollout targeting the first half of 2027.
Stablecoins as the missing settlement layer
The Citi report identifies the rise of trusted digital cash as a critical enabler for instant settlement of tokenized assets. Standard stablecoins are expected to grow into a $1.9 trillion market by 2030, working alongside digital bank deposits to allow assets and cash to settle simultaneously in a single transaction.
Because many stablecoin issuers hold U.S. Treasury bills as reserve assets, Citi estimates that the growth of stablecoins alone could generate approximately $1 trillion in new demand for U.S. government bonds. That figure positions stablecoins as one of the most significant bridges between traditional finance and blockchain markets.
This projection comes on the heels of the GENIUS Act, the U.S. stablecoin legislation signed into law in July 2025 with a bipartisan 68-30 Senate vote. The GENIUS Act requires stablecoin issuers to maintain 100% reserves and comply with anti-money-laundering rules, providing a regulatory foundation that underpins the growth trajectory Citi is forecasting.
Clarity Act advances through Congress
On the regulatory front, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act cleared a major hurdle on May 14 when the Senate Banking Committee advanced it with a 15-9 bipartisan vote, ending a four-month stall. Chairman Tim Scott managed a last-minute maneuver to secure bipartisan support, with two Democrats voting in favor.
The Clarity Act is the crypto industry’s primary market structure legislation. It establishes a regulatory framework clarifying the roles of the SEC and CFTC in overseeing digital assets, addresses DeFi regulation, sets tokenization standards, and includes provisions around developer protections and bankruptcy safeguards.
The bill still needs to be reconciled with the Senate Agriculture Committee’s “Digital Commodity Intermediaries Act” before heading to a full Senate vote, where it will need 60 votes to pass. An unresolved conflict-of-interest provision related to the Trump family’s crypto involvement remains a point of contention.
According to Citi, the combination of institutional infrastructure buildout and clearer regulation is what separates this tokenization wave from earlier hype cycles.
Public markets will lead, not private assets
The report makes a clear distinction between where tokenization will gain the most traction and where it will lag.
Citi expects growth to concentrate in mainstream public markets, specifically U.S. Treasury bills and publicly listed equities, rather than private markets like private credit or private equity, which are harder to trade and slower to change.
The bank assumes that 10% of the U.S. Treasury bill market and 3% of the U.S. public stock market will be tokenized by 2030. If just 10% of everyday U.S. investors shift to digital trading platforms, that alone would create $2.6 trillion in demand for tokenized stocks.
On the other end of the spectrum, complex areas like private credit and private equity are each expected to reach a much smaller $100 billion globally by the end of the decade.
Data from RWA.xyz shows the value of tokenized real-world assets has already risen 66% in 2026, led by funds, gold and equities across public blockchains, with Ethereum hosting a large share of the current tokenized RWA market.
The E-ZPass analogy and “Structural Orchestrators”
Citi cautions that the transition will not happen overnight. The report compares the shift to how U.S. highways adopted electronic toll systems like E-ZPass. Toll roads did not become fully automated in a single day. States built wider roads with parallel lanes for both cash-paying drivers and automated transponder users, adding extra cost and complexity before the old system was eventually phased out.
Similarly, legacy and digital financial systems will coexist for years. This parallel operation will create friction and added costs, but it is the realistic path to adoption.
The report introduces the concept of “Structural Orchestrators,” referring to the large banks and investment firms that control both the underlying assets and the digital payment rails used to settle trades. These players will hold a significant advantage because they can handle the entire lifecycle of a tokenized transaction within their own network, from issuance to settlement.
The bigger picture
Citi’s forecast arrives at a time when tokenization has moved well beyond experimental territory. The Federal Reserve’s Governor Lisa Cook delivered remarks on tokenization’s implications for the financial system in early May, and Broadridge reported processing over $400 billion in daily repo transactions on its tokenized settlement platform.
The convergence of institutional infrastructure moves from DTCC, Nasdaq, and ICE, a growing stablecoin market, advancing U.S. legislation, and Wall Street banks publicly forecasting trillions in tokenized assets paints a picture that is hard to dismiss as speculative.
Whether the market reaches $2.7 trillion or $8.2 trillion by 2030, the direction is clear: Wall Street is building the rails, and the assets are following.
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