DeutschThe merger of traditional Wall Street and blockchain technology is reaching a new dimension. A recent research report from the major US bank Citigroup predicts exponential growth for real-world assets on the blockchain (RWA for short). This process is referred to as tokenization. While the broader crypto market is subject to short-term fluctuations, a fundamental technological infrastructure is being built in the background, from which regulated financial centers like Switzerland could benefit massively.
Wall Street Moves On-Chain: The Citi Report in Detail
In the research report titled “Tokenization 2030: Wall Street On-Chain” published on June 1, 2026, Citigroup’s analyst department details why on-chain securitization is on the verge of a global breakthrough. According to the forecast, the market volume of tokenized assets will rise to around $5.5 trillion by the year 2030. Depending on the speed of adoption and regulatory frameworks, the projected spectrum ranges from $2.7 to $8.2 trillion.
The major bank cites enormous efficiency gains as the key driver for this development. Smart contracts allow settlement processes, which often take days in the traditional banking world, to be carried out in real time and with almost no counterparty risk. This drastically reduces operational costs in trading and administration and eliminates administrative friction.
Which Asset Classes Are Being Tokenized?
The transformation affects both liquid and traditionally highly illiquid markets. According to the Citi report, the primary growth drivers are divided into the following core segments:
- Government Bonds & Money Market Funds (approx. $1.2 – 1.8 trillion): Offering 24/7 liquidity and instant settlement. Tokenized Treasuries are already seeing the fastest institutional growth today.
- Real Estate & Infrastructure (approx. $1.0 – 1.5 trillion): Enabling fractional ownership and drastically lowering entry barriers for private investors.
- Private Equity & Venture Capital (approx. $0.8 – 1.2 trillion): Automating compliance processes and creating secondary markets for formerly locked-up funds.
The Crypto Sector Reacts: “Agentic AI” and Massive Whale Activity
Parallel to developments in the traditional banking sector, on-chain data also shows significant accumulation. Large institutions and specialized crypto companies like Bitmine Immersion Technologies are strategically expanding their holdings in the underlying protocols (primarily Ethereum).
The reason for this is obvious: Ethereum is still considered the primary settlement network for institutional RWA projects. Furthermore, the increasing integration of “Agentic AI”—autonomously acting AI systems that handle financial transactions directly on public blockchains—is driving the need for programmable assets and instant liquidity without human intermediaries.
Tokenization: Switzerland and Crypto Valley as Beneficiaries
For the Swiss financial center and the ecosystem in Zug (Crypto Valley), the Citigroup report provides confirmation of the strategy they have adopted. Thanks to the pioneering DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) Act, Switzerland has one of the world’s most advanced and legally secure frameworks for the issuance of digital ledger-based securities. Swiss banks and specialized custodians are excellently positioned by international standards to act as regulated gateways for this new asset class, while regulatory uncertainties overseas often still act as a brake.
Conclusion on the Progress of Tokenization
The divide between “crypto” and the “traditional financial world” is visibly disappearing. RWA tokenization forms the bridge that brings trillions in liquidity to the blockchain. For forward-looking investors, this trend means that projects in the RWA infrastructure sector, decentralized oracle networks (like Chainlink), and established Layer-1 platforms show fundamental strength that is completely decoupled from pure speculative meme-coin hype.
Source: Citigroup Global Research, Special Report: “Tokenization 2030: Wall Street On-Chain”, June 2026.
