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Crypto Journalist
Veronika Rinecker
Crypto Journalist
Veronika Rinecker
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Mercado Bitcoin, one of Latin America’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has joined forces with Polygon Labs to expand the tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs) across the region.
According to the press release shared with Cryptonews, Mercado Bitcoin plans to tokenize more than $200 million worth of assets this year to democratize access to previously illiquid assets, like private credit, for a broader audience.
This ambitious goal more than doubles their current total of tokenized assets.
Polygon Integration Reduces Transaction Costs
Mercado Bitcoin will integrate Polygon’s blockchain network into its tokenization process. This integration will slash transaction costs and improve settlement times.
Fabrício Tota, Mercado Bitcoin’s vice president of new business, emphasizes that “the Polygon network enables fast and affordable transactions, positioning Mercado Bitcoin as a technological and financial leader both in Latin America and globally.”
Through its asset tokenization unit, MB Tokens, Mercado Bitcoin has already issued over 340 tokenized products.
These products, totaling roughly $180 million, include tokenized private credit, fixed-income instruments, and revenue-sharing products.
Companies Fuel Tokenization Boom
The trend of RWA tokenization is gaining momentum, with other companies also entering the space.
Earlier this month, Securitize, a RWA tokenization company, partnered with RedStone, a DeFi-focused oracle provider, to enhance the utility of its tokenized products.
This collaboration looks to integrate Securitize’s tokenized assets, such as BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) and the Apollo Diversified Credit Securitize Fund (ACRED), into decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms.
In February, Deutsche Bank-backed Taurus, a digital asset infrastructure firm, launched an enterprise-grade custody and tokenization platform, Taurus-Capital, on the Solana blockchain.
The integration will enable banks and issuers to custody and stake any Solana-native tokenized assets via the custody platform, Taurus-Protect, and to issue programmable tokenized assets on Taurus-Capital.
In November 2024, USDT stablecoin issuer Tether launched an RWA tokenization platform called “Hadron,” which allows corporations, asset managers, and nation-states to issue and manage digital asset tokens for real-world financial instruments.
Growth of the RWA Tokenization Market
According to data from RWA.xyz, the total market capitalization of on-chain real-world assets is approaching $18.1 billion, reflecting a 17.5% growth rate over the preceding 30 days.
So far, the tokenization of private credit and US Treasury bonds is experiencing the largest growth.
Ethereum dominates the RWA tokenization space with the highest total value of almost $4.2 billion, nearly 52% market share, and 67 RWA issuers.
ZKsync Era shows explosive growth of 1,273% in the last 30 days, positioning it as a major emerging player and securing second place with over $2 billion in total value, 25% market share, and 32 issuers.
While networks like Stellar, Aptos, and Polygon have a presence, they hold smaller market shares, 5.7%, 4.2%, and 2.5% respectively.
Redefining Liquidity in Latin America
As Mercado Bitcoin moves forward with plans to tokenize over $200 million in real-world assets through Polygon, Latin America’s approach to liquidity and asset management may evolve significantly.
Tokenization does more than just reduce transaction costs—it alters how assets are structured and exchanged.
This raises an important question: will tokenized assets become commonplace for investors in the region, rather than exceptions to traditional investment strategies?
As tokenization expands, existing financial institutions face increasing pressure to adapt.
Mercado Bitcoin’s recent initiative could serve as an indicator of broader changes to come in the region’s financial sector.
