Real world asset (RWA) tokens may provide retail investors with access to previously unavailable investments. Christopher Perkins, president of CoinFund, claims this mirrors how ETFs opened access to financial instruments in 1993.
The Opportunities of RWA Tokens
According to Perkins, RWA tokens serve as a new type of ETF that reduces information asymmetry for retail investors. "Ordinary people cannot access private markets. If you look at the data, about 81% of companies with $100 million in revenue are private," he stated.
Challenges in Traditional Financial Markets
Perkins also highlighted the decline in the number of public companies, which has fallen by about 50% since the 1990s. "Our public markets are completely broken right now. We are raising less money in public markets, which makes zero sense," he added.
Interest in Tokenization Among Private Companies
Recently, the brokerage platform Robinhood launched tokenized stock trading for European customers. As part of this initiative, the company announced it would distribute tokens linked to OpenAI and SpaceX. While these tokens provide only price exposure and no stake in the companies, interest in tokenization continues to grow.
Real world asset tokens represent a significant step toward democratizing investment opportunities for retail investors. Despite existing challenges in traditional financial markets, tokenization may help provide access to a broader range of assets.
