Opinion by: Sam Mudie, CEO of Savea
Previously, alternative assets were reserved for the elite.
For centuries, fine wine, high art, and luxury watches were accessible only to exclusive societal circles.
However, everything has shifted. Blockchain technology has digitized these alternative assets, allowing for fractional ownership and continuous access.
The result? The distinction between “alternative” and “mainstream” is rapidly vanishing.
Luxury assets have been traditionally inaccessible
Accessing the passion class of assets has historically relied on connections, placing them beyond the reach of many investors. Moreover, there exists a disparity in returns based on investment amounts, with smaller investments often yielding poorer outcomes compared to larger ones.
Traditionally, finalizing an investment in alternative assets has taken anywhere from four to five weeks to six months to sell and realize funds (plus an additional week or two to be added to the payment run for accounts).
Due to the numerous barriers to entry within luxury asset classes, innovators are identifying them as new opportunity areas, resulting in fintech companies working to bring these assets on-chain. Blockchain holds the potential to unlock global access and verifiable provenance, making it an excellent tool for democratizing access to various assets.
Consequently, the real-world asset (RWA) market has expanded 380% in three years, reaching around $24 billion by mid-2025 alone. Furthermore, Millennial and Gen Z investors allocate three times more of their investment portfolios to alternative assets compared to older generations. New platforms are emerging to tokenize fine wine, while others are enabling investments in art and real estate.
Tokenization brings greater freedom for all kinds of investments
Tokenization enables investors to trade anything, anywhere, and at any time in mere seconds, additionally allowing for regulated, liquid, scalable, and efficient transactions. By moving assets on-chain, tokenization also addresses the traditional asymmetry in returns associated with buying and selling luxury assets.
Whether an individual is investing $500 in a premium cask of whiskey or $1 million in a Damien Hirst piece, the trade operates under the same transparent, standardized rules without intermediaries that typically delay the process and inflate costs.
Traditional passion asset investing systems are often slow and opaque, requiring extensive processes involving operational departments, paper trails, and months of settlement time. In contrast, blockchain-based systems streamline operations with programmable smart contracts, significantly reducing overhead and enabling instant settlements.
Related: Scaramucci to tokenize $300M in assets, nearly doubling Avalanche’s RWA base
Since blockchain records every transaction immutably, it creates a 24/7 transparent and reliable ledger. This enhanced provenance and auditability decrease fraud risks and simplify trading to the ease of buying or selling any stock on Nasdaq today.
However, despite the democratization of alternative asset accessibility through digitization, investors still encounter barriers. Current frustration is growing surrounding the trading systems in place, which lack the seamlessness of trading traditional stocks.
As tokenization continues to reshape financial markets, new platforms can develop user experiences that facilitate luxury asset trading. If successful, they stand to gain significantly, as the next phase of investing focuses on accessibility to all assets, everywhere, for everyone.
The democratization of tokenization is on the horizon
The future for alternative assets lies in their global democratization, achievable through tokenization’s potential for faster liquidity and lower minimums.
Tokenized art is expected to reach $11.3 billion by 2025 and is projected to grow to $48.6 billion by 2033. Likewise, Deloitte anticipates the tokenization of real estate assets will grow from under $300 billion in 2024 to $4 trillion by 2035.
As more high-value markets transition on-chain, it’s evident that platforms treating tokenized assets as inferior will lose traction, while those prioritizing the tokenization of alternative assets and supporting users through real-time net asset value updates, transparent custodianship, and intuitive experiences will emerge victorious in this new finance era.
The distinction between alternative and traditional assets is swiftly fading. With more RWAs moving on-chain, investors will increasingly expect the same speed, efficiency, and standards available when trading public equities.
The future of investing extends beyond mere digitization: it’s democratized, decentralized, and designed for all.
Opinion by: Sam Mudie, CEO of Savea.
This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended as legal or investment advice. The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
