The Rise of Tokenised Assets: Infrastructure, Access, Regulation

Capital Call #59

This is your curated resource on how dominant companies of the future are being funded across the evolving financial landscape. We are Willy Braun, Nicolas Colin and Vincent Touati-Tomas.

This edition examines asset tokenisation's growing impact on global finance. From BlackRock CEO Larry Fink to innovative startups, leading voices explore how blockchain technology is enabling fractional ownership, enhanced liquidity, and automated compliance across investment markets. Our curated selection reveals how the digitisation of real-world assets is moving beyond cryptocurrency speculation to create more efficient, transparent systems that may fundamentally reshape wealth creation in the coming decade. Follow us on LinkedIn: Capital Call.

In Larry Fink 🇺🇸’s latest annual letter, the BlackRock CEO predicts that the future of finance includes digital assets and tokenisation, to i. reduce settlement delays (which in turns free up capital for reinvestment) ii. enable fractional ownership and iii. make shareholder voting more transparent and accessible: Larry Fink’s 2025 Annual Chairman’s Letter to Investors (April 2025).

Our own Nicolas Colin 🇫🇷 interviews former NEAR Foundation CEO Marieke Flament 🇫🇷 who argues that blockchain's true success lies in becoming invisible infrastructure. She identifies tokenisation of real-world assets like dollars (stablecoins) as blockchain's most promising application, creating more efficient, transparent systems for transferring value while maintaining regulatory compliance, ultimately enabling a “second economy” that mirrors physical assets in digital form: “Crypto will have won when you use blockchain without knowing it” (April 2025).

Taylor Ryker 🇺🇸 and Leon Owens Lloyd 🇺🇸 from CoolWave Capital examine the convergence of legacy financial systems with blockchain-based assets, highlighting increased liquidity, accessibility, and efficiency as tokenisation goes mainstream: Tokenization and Traditional Finance in 2025: A Symbiotic Evolution.

In Michael Green 🇺🇸's analysis, tokenisation transforms finance by enabling sophisticated “digitally native assets” that eliminate analog inefficiencies. Unlike conventional methods that rely on crude leverage, tokenisation allows precise cash flow splitting to create stable, high-return products without excessive risk. Green demonstrates this by using AI to model a tokenised security that converts volatile income streams into consistent 10% returns with minimal volatility, showcasing how tokenisation enables previously inaccessible financial innovations: A Golden Break (February 2025).

Nate Nead 🇺🇸 explores how asset tokenisation will transform investing despite cryptocurrency market volatility. The piece distinguishes between token types, examines regulatory frameworks, and highlights how blockchain technology enables fractionalised ownership, enhanced liquidity, and automated compliance across various asset classes, particularly in real estate and securities markets: How Tokenization Will Change Investing (December 2024).

Investor Balaji S. Srinivasan 🇺🇸 introduces a blockchain solution for angel investing. His proposed “mirrortables” would function like stablecoins by creating on-chain representations of traditional capitalization tables, offering 24/7 accessibility and smart contract integration while maintaining legal compliance. This innovation aims to replace the current fragmented system of documents and wire transfers with a streamlined digital framework, making international startup investment significantly more efficient: The Mirrortable (December 2021).

Investor Cathy Tao 🇸🇬 examines how cryptocurrency might enable new business empires rivalling those of the Gilded Age. Drawing parallels with 19th century industrialists, she identifies seven strategies for building crypto monopolies, from developing infrastructure to tokenising illiquid assets, while arguing that significant wealth concentration can coexist with blockchain's decentralised ethos: Will the Next Empire be Built With Tokens? (February 2020).

Jason Barraza 🇺🇸 argues that 2025 should be the year tokenisation solidifies its position and transitions into the "pragmatists" portion of the adoption bell curve, with regulatory clarity, institutional adoption, and improved utility, among other catalysts to stimulate exponential growth and adoption: What 2025 Holds for Tokenized Real World Assets.

Economist Noah Smith 🇺🇸 examines how America's technology sector is increasingly shifting toward trading platforms and financial products. He argues that whilst China advances in semiconductors, drones and electric vehicles, US innovators are redirecting valuable human resources toward creating sophisticated ways to separate retail investors from their money. Smith questions whether this trend represents a socially efficient use of the nation's technological talent and entrepreneurial energy: The financialization of tech (August 2022).

David Phelps 🇺🇸 and Annika Lewis 🇨🇦examine how digital collectivisation is disrupting venture capital. They argue that platforms enabling group investments through DAOs and tokenisation are creating a "multiplayer" financial landscape where communities can challenge traditional VC power structures. This shift represents a fundamental change in how investment opportunities are accessed, decisions are made, and wealth is distributed: Collectivizing Finance (August 2021).

In this paper published by McKinsey & Co, economist W. Brian Arthur 🇺🇸 explores how digitised business processes are creating a vast, invisible digital economy operating alongside the physical one. He argues this silent transformation rivals the Industrial Revolution in significance, forming a "neural system" for the economy that will fundamentally reshape wealth creation and distribution in the coming decades: The second economy (October 2011).

• W. Brian Arthur 🇺🇸 | External Professor, Sante Fe Institute | LinkedIn

• Jason Barraza 🇺🇸 | COO, STM.co | LinkedIn

• Nicolas Colin 🇫🇷 | Publisher, Drift Signal | LinkedIn

• Larry Fink 🇺🇸 | Founder & CEO, BlackRock | LinkedIn

• Marieke Flament 🇫🇷 | Angel Investor, former CEO, NEAR Foundation | LinkedIn

• Michael Green 🇺🇸 | Chief Strategist, Simplify Asset Management | LinkedIn

• Annika Lewis 🇨🇦 | Executive Director, Eco Foundation | LinkedIn

• Nate Nead 🇺🇸 | Managing Partner, HOLD.co | LinkedIn

• Leon Owens Lloyd 🇺🇸 | CIO, CoolWave Capital | Linktree

• David Phelps 🇺🇸 | Co-founder, Joke | LinkedIn

• Noah Smith 🇺🇸 | Founder and Writer, Noahpinion | LinkedIn

• Balaji S. Srinivasan 🇺🇸 | Former General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz | LinkedIn

• Cathy Tao 🇸🇬 | Chief Investment Officer, Vicuna Fund | LinkedIn

• Taylor Ryker 🇺🇸 | CEO, CoolWave Capital | Linktree