Legal certainty over what a token entitles holders to, and thin secondary market liquidity, were the two constraints cited by APAC investors already allocated to tokenized traditional assets, according to a survey published on 6 Jul by Sygnum, a Switzerland- and Singapore-regulated digital asset bank.
APAC Investors Flag Ownership, Liquidity as Tokenization Barriers
7 July 2026 - 05:20 CEST
By Oihyun Kim
40% flag ownership rights
The 2026 APAC Tokenization Report polled 212 high-net-worth and professional investors, mainly in Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea.
Among current holders, 40% flagged legal ownership rights and 43% flagged secondary market liquidity as reasons for not committing more capital. The survey was fielded in April through an independent investor research panel. The panel provider is not disclosed.
Adoption already broad
The survey found 68% of respondents already held tokenized traditional assets, with a further 12% evaluating and 20% with no exposure. Sygnum flagged the adoption level as one of the report's more significant findings, given limited access to fully regulated tokenized securities in the region.
Tokenization is being adopted as a format for existing exposures rather than a new asset class. Tokenized equities lead at 66%, followed by tokenized treasuries at 44%, with diversification cited by 72% as the main rationale.
Around 80% of allocations involve fresh capital rather than reallocation, indicating tokenization is drawing new money onchain.
The crypto on-ramp
Sygnum flagged the 83% crypto holding rate in its sample as higher than anticipated. Among the 68% already holding tokenized assets, 97% also hold crypto, and crypto holders are roughly seven times more likely than non-crypto investors to have taken a position in the format. Only 2% of crypto holders remain undecided on sizing, against about a quarter of non-crypto respondents.
$40tn in play
Around 48% of respondents expect between 15% and 30% of traditional capital markets to move onchain within three to five years. A further 7.5% see the share exceeding 30%.
Sygnum co-founder and APAC CEO Gerald Goh said "the buy-side is ready", framing remaining friction as an infrastructure question. Sygnum itself provides tokenization services.
