While the U.S. continues to wrestle with how to regulate digital assets, other jurisdictions are moving quickly to establish frameworks for tokenized financial instruments. Regions like Hong Kong, Singapore, the UAE, and the European Union have each launched pilot programs, legal sandboxes, or regulatory guidance focused specifically on tokenized equities and real-world assets (RWAs).
This global divergence is drawing criticism from industry leaders who argue that the U.S. could miss a rare opportunity to lead the next era of capital markets.
“Capital and talent flow to places that embrace regulated innovation. For example, places like Hong Kong, Singapore, the UAE, and EU are now rolling out tokenization frameworks. Blocking tokenized equity pilots in the U.S. means ceding leadership.”
— Lingling Jiang, Partner at DWF Labs
A Global Race for Digital Capital Market Infrastructure
Tokenization, the process of issuing traditional assets like stocks, bonds, or funds as blockchain-based representations, is rapidly becoming a cornerstone of financial modernization efforts. In just the first half of 2025, on-chain RWAs surged past $23 billion, fueled by rising demand for programmable, transparent, and 24/7-settleable assets.
Singapore’s Project Guardian and Hong Kong’s ongoing tokenized green bond issuance have already demonstrated how governments can support innovation without compromising regulatory integrity. Meanwhile, the EU’s MiCA regulation has carved out a path for security tokens and stablecoins to operate under defined rules across member states. In that context, the emergence of ISO 20022-compliant crypto projects shows growing alignment between blockchain infrastructure and traditional financial systems.
In contrast, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has yet to greenlight even limited-scale tokenized equity pilots, raising concerns that U.S.-based firms may relocate or lose competitive positioning.
The bottom line
Jiang’s comments echo a growing frustration within the digital finance industry: a desire not for deregulation, but for proactive and structured experimentation. Countries that enable such testing environments are now pulling ahead — attracting fintech startups, institutional capital, and regulatory goodwill.
This comes at a time when market participants are increasingly focused on the next crypto bull run, with attention shifting toward platforms that offer real-world use cases, rather than just speculation. Unlike volatile assets favored by day traders, tokenized equities offer programmable compliance, built-in auditability, and faster settlement — all while aligning with the infrastructure goals of the quantum financial system.
The U.S. has historically led in capital markets innovation, but Jiang warns that by stalling on digital pilots, it may cede that position to regions more open to supervised experimentation.
The question now is whether U.S. regulators will adjust course — or allow the future of capital markets to be shaped elsewhere.
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