TOKENIZATION | A Look at RWA Tokenization in Africa and Projects to Look Out for in 2025

In 2024, real estate and property emerged as the key sector that innovators are targeting for tokenization in Africa with several developments that we reported throughout the year, notably from Kenya, South Africa, and Nigeria.

kodzilla··5 min read

2024 provided further evidence that tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) has become a major blockchain application across the African continent with various efforts taking off the ground.

Real estate and property emerged as the key sector that innovators are targeting for tokenization in Africa with several developments that we reported throughout 2024 notably from Kenya, South Africa, and Nigeria:

  • CMA Kenya admitted two other firms throughout the year, including OwnMali and AlphaBloq.

  • Kenya’s Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) joined the Hedera Council to accelerate tokenization initiatives using the Hedera Network.


Real-World Asset (RWA) tokenization involves representing physical assets like bonds, real estate, or private credit as digital tokens on a blockchain. This innovative approach enhances efficiency by enabling these traditionally illiquid assets to be traded, managed, and transferred more seamlessly within the digital ecosystem.

According to a 2024 report from the Tokenized Asset Coalition (TAC), the total value locked (TVL) in tokenized assets surpassed $186 billion in 2024, representing a 32% year-to-date increase.

 

When stablecoins, which are technically RWA too, are removed, we see that tokenized assets experienced even more significant growth, rising by 53% over the year, underscoring the expanding adoption and innovation within the tokenized asset sector.

 

Globally, BlackRock made headlines in March 2024 by launching its tokenized fund, marking a significant move into the tokenized asset space.

This was soon followed by other major institutions, including Franklin Templeton, which launched its own tokenized fund on Arbitrum, an Ethereum Layer-2 network.

Spotlight: Commodities and Public Equities

Since the start of 2024, the tokenized commodity market has seen several new entrants. Issuers like WisdomTree, HSBC, and Swarm have released tokenized precious metal products. Meanwhile, Coinbase Derivatives, Ostium Labs, Elmnts, and Helix have introduced digital oil and gas products, which have largely been nascent up until this point.

According to the TAC report, tokenized stocks may offer limited advantages to citizens of developed nations with mature public equity markets. However, for individuals in emerging market economies, these digital assets open doors to international equity markets that would otherwise remain out of reach.

In 2024, issuers of tokenized stocks increasingly focused their efforts on emerging economies.

Their distribution strategies now cater specifically to these regions, leveraging both direct-to-consumer (B2C) channels via web apps and primary markets, as well as business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) models through integrations with popular local fintech apps.

This approach broadens access to global equities for investors in under-developed public equity markets.

That said, African players such as the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) are taking efforts to offer tokenized products, including those targeting African resources and wealth, by partnering with established tokenization platforms such as Hedera, Valour, and SovFi.


At the same time, the efforts by local startups such as Empowa should not be ignored.

 

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