HT Brand Studio
31 Mar 2026
Real estate, bonds, gold, and nearly every asset class is being transformed into tradable digital tokens on a blockchain. Here’s why it matters to investors
Put simply, instead of buying an entire apartment worth ₹1.5 crore, an investor can own a fraction of it for as little as ₹10,000. Similarly, rather than purchasing a full government bond, one can invest in smaller portions. Tokenisation doesn’t alter the asset itself; it transforms access, enabling broader ownership, faster transactions, and potentially lower costs.
The global surge: From $5 billion to $24 billion in three years
The real-world asset (RWA) tokenisation market has grown from approximately $5 billion in 2022 to over $24 billion by early 2025, a 380% expansion in just three years. Boston Consulting Group and Ripple project the market could reach $18 trillion by 2033, with real estate and alternative investment funds among the top three asset classes to be tokenised.
Traditional financial markets involve multiple intermediaries, custodians, clearing houses, and brokers, creating delays and costs. Tokenised assets can settle in near-real time on a blockchain network, directly cutting the expense that disproportionately burdens smaller investors.
Transparency and trust
Blockchain's shared ledger creates a single, immutable record of every transaction. Every ownership transfer is traceable, auditable, and tamper-proof, a stark contrast to the opaque, paper-heavy processes that still govern much of India's property market.
Alt DRX: Making every Indian a property owner, one square foot at a time
Amidst this global and domestic transformation, one Bengaluru-based startup is putting the promise of tokenisation into practice for ordinary Indians, doing so one square foot at a time. Alt DRX, India's first tokenised digital real estate marketplace, has built a platform that allows anyone to buy and sell residential real estate in increments as small as one square foot, with investments starting at just ₹10,000.
The proposition is simple: residential real estate has historically been the world's most stable and widely held asset class, delivering strong long-term returns and acting as a hedge against equity market volatility. Yet for most of India's middle class, it has been precisely out of reach, requiring enormous upfront capital, saddling it with illiquidity, and burdening it with opaque processes. Alt DRX is systematically dismantling each of these barriers.
How Alt DRX works
The platform converts physical residential properties into tradeable digital tokens through a proprietary Digital Contract that captures the economic value of the underlying property. Users complete a simple KYC process and can then invest in curated real estate assets, ranging from rental housing and holiday homes to prime land and alternative residential models, through a stock exchange-like interface. Algorithmic daily pricing and instant settlements complete the picture, giving investors the real-time visibility and exit options that traditional real estate never offered.
“We believe the next 100 million real estate investors will be digital-first and will invest dispassionately beyond their hometowns into the best residential cities across India and the world. Residential real estate is entering its most profound disruption in decades—tokenised, digital, liquid. Alt DRX is not just innovating at the edges; we are reimagining the core of residential real estate investment for a digital-first generation,” said Anand Narayanan, Principal Founder, Alt DRX.
This is not merely a technology pitch. It is a social contract. When a salaried professional in Coimbatore can own a fraction of a premium apartment in Bengaluru's Whitefield corridor, diversifying across geographies and asset types the way a mutual fund investor diversifies across stocks, the democratisation of wealth creation becomes real.
Frequently asked questions on asset tokenisation
What is the difference between tokenisation and cryptocurrency?
Tokenisation represents ownership rights to a real, physical, or financial asset, such as property, gold, or bonds, on a blockchain. Cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin, is a speculative digital asset with no underlying physical backing. Tokenised assets are regulated, KYC-backed, and tied to real-world value.
How is tokenised real estate different from REITs?
REITs pool investor capital into large, professionally managed portfolios of income-generating commercial real estate. Tokenised real estate allows investors to pick specific properties, invest at much lower minimums (as little as ₹10,000), and trade their holdings rather than waiting for listed REIT units to trade on an exchange.
What are the risks of tokenised assets?
Key risks include regulatory uncertainty as frameworks evolve, smart contract vulnerabilities, thin liquidity in the secondary market for niche assets, and questions about the legal enforceability of token ownership. Investors should conduct thorough due diligence and choose platforms with strong regulatory positioning.
How large will the tokenisation market be?
Boston Consulting Group and Ripple estimate the RWA tokenisation market will reach $18 trillion by 2033. McKinsey projects $2 trillion by 2030. Standard Chartered forecasts $30 trillion by 2034 under a bullish scenario, all contingent on continued regulatory clarity and institutional adoption.
The road ahead
For India, the opportunity is generational. A country where over 60% of household savings are locked in physical real estate, often in a single illiquid property, stands to benefit enormously from a system that makes asset ownership more granular, more liquid, and more accessible. The barriers that have kept premium assets the exclusive preserve of the wealthy are structural, not natural. Tokenisation is the technology to remove them.