Boston Consulting RWA Report: Business Insights from the Narrative of Vietnamese Technology

Global Report on Digital Development Volume 3 Issue 46 (2025/11/10-2025/11/16)

This overview revisits the content related to the Boston Consulting Group's asset tokenization report for reference.

In 2023, the global top consulting firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG) collaborated with Libre Capital, which focuses on digital assets, to release a research report titled “The Tokenization Potential is Huge, but Not Yet Realized.” This report comes out against the backdrop of the cryptocurrency market experiencing a winter and the world seeking new growth momentum, highlighting both the vast and boundless opportunities of this new blue ocean of tokenization, while not shying away from the reefs and shallows encountered during the current voyage.

1. The Rational Light in the Winter and the Call for Paradigm Revolution

The release of this report is at a highly tense historical juncture.

Reflections on the industry after the bubble era. From 2022 to 2023, a series of crises represented by the collapse of FTX cast a shadow over the crypto industry, shifting market sentiment from enthusiasm to pessimism and skepticism. Against this backdrop, the industry urgently needs to shed the label of “speculative hype” and return to the real economy. As a think tank in the traditional financial world, BCG's voice represents an effort to “return to the source,” attempting to redirect market attention from price fluctuations to the underlying value of blockchain technology—asset tokenization.

Cautious Entry of Traditional Financial Giants. At the same time, traditional financial giants such as BlackRock and Fidelity are applying for Bitcoin spot ETFs and actively exploring applications like tokenized funds. This indicates that mainstream capital has recognized the potential of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), but a clear and credible roadmap is needed. The BCG report plays exactly this role, providing a basis for decision-making for hesitant institutional investors.

The efficiency bottleneck of the global economy. At the macroeconomic level, there is an urgent demand globally to improve capital efficiency, reduce transaction costs, and release the liquidity of existing assets. Tokenization is seen as one of the key technological pathways to solve these problems. This report systematically evaluates its feasibility under the call of this “paradigm revolution.”

Therefore, this report is not a mere embellishment during the industry's peak, but a timely assistance during its trough, aiming to clear the fog with data and models, guiding the mainstream direction of the next development cycle.

2. Build a complete analytical framework of “Potential-Obstacles-Paths”

The core content of the report revolves around a central paradox: the significant gap between immense theoretical potential and lagging real-world applications. Its analytical framework is clear and rigorous.

1. Quantifying Potential: $16 Trillion Market Outlook

The most striking conclusion of the report is that by 2030, the scale of tokenized assets could reach $16 trillion. This figure is not a fantasy, but is based on a detailed analysis of different asset classes:

Global Non-Financial Corporate Debt (approximately $12 trillion): Achieving more efficient issuance, settlement, and asset management through tokenization.

Investment Funds (approximately $15 trillion): Especially private equity and venture capital, tokenization can greatly enhance the liquidity and accessibility of shares.

Real Estate (approximately $0.5 trillion): Unlock the liquidity of this massive inventory market through fractional ownership.

Small and Medium Enterprises Financing, Supply Chain Finance, etc. Other areas constitute the remaining potential space.

2. Systematic Diagnosis of Obstacles: Four Major “Stumbling Blocks”

The report sharply points out that the reason for the potential not being released lies in four structural barriers:

Regulatory uncertainty is the biggest bottleneck. Globally, there is a lack of a clear framework regarding the legal status of tokens, tax treatment, cross-border compliance, and other issues, which has led to institutions being hesitant.

Market infrastructure is underdeveloped including the backend systems for digital asset custody, clearing, settlement, and price discovery have not yet formed a reliable and interconnected ecosystem like traditional finance.

Insufficient technical interoperability, different blockchain networks and protocols are like “data islands,” making it difficult for assets to flow freely between different systems, thus limiting the formation of network effects.

Scalability and Operational Challenges, some current blockchains still have limitations in transaction speed, gas fees, and energy consumption, and the operational process of bringing traditional assets on-chain is complex.

3. Outlining the Path to Breakthrough: From “Bridge” to “Native”

The report outlines a clear evolution path for industry participants:

Short-term focuses on building a bridge between “traditional” and “digital”. For example, issuing tokenized funds and bonds as a complement to existing financial products, primarily serving institutional investors.

Mid-term development of key market infrastructure, such as institutional-level custody solutions, on-chain identity verification, and cross-chain protocols.

In the long term, as regulatory frameworks improve and technology matures, entirely new business models and asset classes native to blockchain will emerge, fundamentally changing the landscape of financial markets.

3. Business Insights Beyond Technical Narratives

The report goes beyond mere technical discussions and presents several highly insightful business insights.

“Liquidity Premium” is the core value proposition. The report emphasizes that the primary value of tokenization is not the technological innovation itself, but the “liquidity premium” it brings to illiquid assets (such as private equity, real estate, and art). Through fragmentation and 24/7 trading, the value of these dormant assets will be re-evaluated, which is the fundamental motivation driving issuers.

“Institutional-level” is the key threshold for success. The report repeatedly points out that for tokenization to become mainstream, it must meet the stringent requirements of institutional investors regarding compliance, security, and risk management. Therefore, the key to competition in the next phase is not to develop the most dazzling public chain, but to build the “financial-grade” infrastructure that is most trusted by institutions.

Regulation is a “fence” rather than a “roadblock.” Unlike some industry participants' resistance to regulation, the report views clear regulation as a prerequisite for market development. It calls on industry participants to actively cooperate with regulatory agencies to jointly formulate rules, as only in a legally sound environment will large-scale capital dare to enter.

Tokenization is process reengineering, not just simple on-chain. The report warns that if existing assets are merely “copied” onto the blockchain without reconstructing the underlying issuance, trading, and service processes, the value of tokenization will be greatly diminished. The true potential lies in utilizing smart contracts to achieve automation and intelligence in business processes.

4. The Perfect Combination of Authority, Pragmatism, and Foresight

The reason this report has attracted much attention is due to its distinctive features.

Authority and Credibility. BCG's brand endorsement gives its views significant weight in the traditional business and financial world. It is not promotional material for a crypto-native project, but a strategic analysis grounded in global economic realities, making it more easily accepted by mainstream decision-makers.

Data-driven and quantitative models. The report avoids vague trend descriptions and instead quantifies market potential through detailed data and rigorous models, making its conclusions more persuasive and actionable.

Systemic perspective on issues. The report does not simply blame the problems on technology or regulation, but adopts a systemic analysis framework that reveals the interconnections and constraints among multidimensional factors such as technology, market, regulation, and operation, providing a more comprehensive picture.

Practical Action Guide. The report is not only an analysis of “what” and “why,” but also includes guidance on “how to do it.” It provides specific action recommendations for asset issuers, technology providers, investors, and regulators, making it highly practical.

5. Defining the Track and Shaping the Blueprint for the Future

The release of this report has had an immediate and profound impact on the industry.

Sound the “rallying call” for institutional entry. It has sent a clear signal to banks, asset management companies, and stock exchanges around the world: tokenization is a definite future trend, and strategic planning and capability building must begin now. This accelerates the digital transformation of traditional finance.

Guide the flow of capital and talent. The obstacles and pathways identified in the report provide direction for venture capital, startups, and R&D talent. In the future, resources will be more concentrated in key infrastructure areas such as compliance technology, institutional custody, and interoperability protocols.

Set the agenda for industry dialogue. The frameworks and terminology proposed in the report (such as the $16 trillion potential and the four major obstacles) have become the common language of industry discussions, influencing the direction of numerous subsequent seminars, articles, and projects, thus playing a role in defining the track.

Promote dialogue between regulators and the industry. The report, with its objective and neutral stance, has become an important bridge connecting regulatory bodies and industry innovation. It provides high-quality references for regulators to understand the core value and potential risks of tokenization, helping to promote the formulation of more informed and efficient regulatory policies.

The report from Boston Consulting Group and Libre Capital successfully charts an accurate “map” for the development of tokenization with its grand vision, calm analysis, and pragmatic advice. It tells us that there is indeed a vast new continent worth $16 trillion ahead, but reaching it requires navigating through regulatory fog, patching the hull of infrastructure, and mastering the technology of collaborative sailing. The significance of this report lies not in predicting an inevitably bright future, but in pointing the way for all navigators, identifying risks, and providing a rational path to reach the other shore. In the long journey from the potential of tokenization to reality, it is undoubtedly an important lighthouse.