Tokenized markets risk collapse without multichain infrastructure | Opinion

It’s safe to say the rush to tokenize trillions of dollars in real-world assets is on. BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, pushes further into tokenized funds after its BUIDL fund surpassed $2 billion. Nasdaq has filed with the SEC to begin trading tokenized securities. Meanwhile, companies like Stripe and Robinhood are building their own blockchain solutions.

The question is no longer if capital markets will move on-chain, but how. And the answer will determine whether tokenization revolutionizes global finance — or collapses into a broken, inefficient system. This “infrastructure debate” is not a technical footnote. It’s the central challenge that will define the future of on-chain finance. If we get it wrong, the promise of tokenization could collapse under its own weight.

The coming split in on-chain finance

Although promising, new dominant approaches to building financial plumbing are dangerously unstable and flawed. Sure, Ethereum’s (ETH) Layer-2 and Layer-3 roadmaps are innovative. But they’re examples of getting in step with technological progress, while simultaneously, they leave behind a patchwork of disconnected systems.

With over 50 L2s already out there, liquidity is becoming scattered across isolated ecosystems. The problem is that hackers love environments where movements between ecosystems rely on fragile bridges: over $700 million was lost to bridge exploits last year alone. This leaves each L2 responsible for building its own services, eroding the promise of smooth interoperability and giving users a fractured experience.

On the other hand, enterprise-built “walled-garden” blockchains introduce a different but equally serious problem. These private networks may offer privacy, but they cut enterprises off from the wider crypto economy. Liquidity and users are driven elsewhere, and the silos that tokenization was meant to dismantle get rebuilt.

History has shown the dangers of centralized control. The GameStop saga, where Robinhood froze trading, demonstrated how a single entity can cut off access to markets. It all points to tokenized assets framed in closed systems, which can undermine the whole purpose of open markets. That’s the problem that enterprise chains risk reviving.

A multichain foundation for global markets

So, is multichain infrastructure built on horizontal scaling and native interoperability a better path?

First and foremost, instead of piling on layers or erecting walls, this method connects parallel blockchains so they can share security and finality without the need for brittle bridges. Adding more chains is similar to adding more lanes to a highway and basically translates to boosting capacity in order to handle the speed and scale institutions require.

Most importantly, the need for centralized mediums can be eliminated through native interoperability, and data and assets would be enabled to move effortlessly across chains. That way, liquidity is shared, not trapped, creating a modular environment for markets to explore. This means enterprises can launch sovereign, high-performance blockchains and still keep access to the broader ecosystem. For markets, on the other hand, it provides a neutral, trusted, and scalable bedrock.

New architectures are already proving this in action. They’re creating a unified liquidity pool while enabling specialized applications.

The stakes: Trust, liquidity, and regulation

Complex tokenized markets simply cannot function with silos-trapped liquidity. Put simply, the core value of turning an asset into a token is to make it more liquid and accessible, but a disjointed ecosystem contradicts that purpose.

Hypothetically, an investor holds a tokenized security on one L2. Now, if they can’t “communicate” and trade with a buyer on another, the market simply falls short on efficiency.

Fragmented ecosystems of L2s and enterprise silos can’t withstand large trades that ask for deep, unified liquidity pools. They can’t avoid slippage.

Moreover, trust is also on the line. A transparent and connected base layer gives regulators what they need, and that’s clear audits with full tracking of provenance across the ecosystem.

In last year’s survey from the World Economic Forum, 79% of participants highlighted clear regulations as the top requirement for adopting on-chain cash. Let’s be honest, it’s not realistic to expect regulators to monitor multiple isolated networks. Therefore, a multichain foundation offers a clearer view of market activity, and risks become easier to detect and reduce. It all comes to this: connectivity is essential for trust, adoption, and scale.

Connectivity, not control

Global finance is at a crossroads as real-world assets move on-chain. Trillions of dollars in value could be made more efficient, liquid, and transparent.

However, here comes the “if.” If we keep building the bunkers of yesterday under the cozy blanket of innovation, what will the future look like?

Of course, short-term fixes might be offered through splintered L2s and closed-off enterprise chains. But they will most likely fracture markets, stall adoption, and undermine the promise of tokenization.

Tokenization won’t succeed if it’s built on silos. The future of global markets depends on connectivity, not control.