Examples of Tokenized Gold, Real Estate, and Bonds

Tokenization is one of the most exciting innovations in blockchain. It allows physical and traditional assets—such as gold, real estate, or bonds—to be represented as digital tokens on a blockchain. This makes investing more accessible, liquid, and transparent while lowering barriers for everyday investors. Below, we’ll explore real examples of tokenized gold, real estate, and bonds to understand how this works in practice.

Tokenized Gold

Gold has long been a safe-haven asset. Through tokenization, investors can now buy fractions of gold without needing physical storage. Examples:

• Paxos Gold (PAXG): Each token is backed 1:1 by a troy ounce of physical gold stored in London vaults. Holders can redeem tokens for actual gold.
• Tether Gold (XAUT): Similar to PAXG, backed by physical gold and issued by Tether. Investors gain exposure to gold’s value while transacting on blockchain.

Why it matters: Tokenized gold brings traditional wealth protection into the digital age, making gold easier to trade, transfer, and integrate into DeFi.

Tokenized Real Estate

Real estate is often expensive and illiquid, but tokenization enables fractional ownership, letting multiple investors share property ownership with lower entry costs. Examples:

• RealT: A U.S. platform offering fractional ownership of rental properties. Investors buy tokens tied to real estate and earn rental income in crypto.
• Brickken & Propy: Projects working on property tokenization and sales using blockchain smart contracts.
• Why it matters: Tokenized real estate allows smaller investors to access high-value property markets and receive rental income transparently through blockchain.

Tokenized Bonds

Bonds are a cornerstone of traditional finance, and tokenization is making them more efficient by reducing intermediaries and allowing fractional investment. Examples:

• European Investment Bank (EIB): Issued a €100M bond on Ethereum in 2021, showing how blockchain can streamline bond issuance.
• Santander Bank: Launched tokenized bonds on Ethereum, aiming to reduce costs and settlement times.

Why it matters: Tokenized bonds bring faster settlement, more transparency, and broader access to fixed-income investments.

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