Monish Muralidharan
5
min read
Oct 2, 2025
Blockchain technology now enables us to convert both real and digital assets into tradable tokens. This process, called tokenization, involves creating a digital token that represents a real-world or virtual asset on a blockchain. For example, a luxury property or a gold bar can be split into many tokens, and each token can be bought and sold online. Because the token resides on a public ledger, it can be traded 24/7, just like any other cryptocurrency. In other words, tokenization brings traditionally illiquid assets (such as real estate, carbon credits, or artwork) into the global market.
What Is Tokenization?
Tokenization is the process of creating a digital representation of an asset by issuing a blockchain-based token. This asset can be anything of value, such as cash, bonds, real estate, commodities, patents, or even event tickets. Each token is directly linked to the underlying asset, typically on a one-to-one basis. For example, one token might represent one ounce of gold stored in a vault. Once tokenized, the asset can be owned, transferred, and traded online via blockchain transactions.
Tokenization brings several key benefits:
Increased liquidity. By converting significant, expensive assets into numerous small tokens, more people can easily buy and sell them. Illiquid assets, such as fine art or real estate, can become tradable on secondary markets.
Fractional ownership. Investors can own a “slice” of a high-value item. For example, you don’t need millions to invest in a building or a patent, but you can still buy a few tokens representing a share of it.
Transparency and security. All trades are recorded on a blockchain. This public ledger shows exactly who owns which tokens, preventing fraud and double-selling.
Accessibility. Because tokens trade on public blockchains, anyone with a crypto wallet can participate. Institutional and retail investors both have equal access, without barriers such as high minimum investments.
These features make asset tokenization one of blockchain’s most ambitious use cases, and even big institutions expect it will “revolutionize asset management”.
Examples of Tokenized Assets
Tokenization has been applied to a wide range of assets. In fact, industry reports note that many real-world assets can be tokenized, including real estate, art, stocks, commodities, and intellectual property rights. Some notable examples include:
Carbon (CO₂) credits: These are permits allowing a company to emit a certain amount of carbon. On-chain tokenization turns each carbon credit into a blockchain token. This makes credits easier to track and trade and increases transparency in carbon markets. (One study noted tokenized carbon brings “more transparency” and can lower costs in the growing $100B market)
Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs): A REC represents one megawatt-hour of renewable electricity (e.g., solar or wind). Tokenizing RECs means each certificate becomes a digital token on the blockchain. This makes trading RECs more efficient and open to smaller investors. As RWA.io explains, tokenization “turns these credits into digital assets on a blockchain, making them easier to trade and track. It also boosts liquidity and transparency: blockchain records show exactly when and how each REC is sold, which reduces fraud and lowers barriers for new investors.
Commodities (Gold, Oil, Wheat, etc.): Physical goods can be represented by tokens. For example, a gold token might be backed by an actual gold bar in a vault. According to Chainlink, “Tokenized commodities are on-chain tokens representing claims on custodied physical assets such as gold or copper,” enabling fractional ownership and 24/7 trading on-chain. In practice, this means you can buy or sell these tokens at any time of day, without needing to ship anything. Commodity tokenization also often cuts costs by reducing fees, friction, and settlement time compared to traditional trading. For instance, research has shown that tokenized commodity markets enhance liquidity and reduce transaction costs for investors.
Intellectual Property (Patents, Copyrights, Trademarks): Creators can turn IP rights into tokens. Each token could represent a share of a patent’s future royalties or a fraction of a song’s copyright. This allows inventors and artists to raise money by selling parts of their IP. Kaleido’s blog notes that tokenizing IP “enables organizations to enforce ownership rights, license their IP assets, and even tokenize future revenue streams”. In other words, instead of borrowing from a bank, an inventor could issue tokens tied to their patent, and investors who buy them would earn a cut of any sales later on. This fractional, transparent approach can unlock new funding opportunities for creators.
Event Tickets: Traditional paper or barcode tickets can be counterfeited. Tokenizing tickets (often via NFTs) addresses this issue. Each ticket is issued as a unique blockchain token that proves authenticity. NFT-based tickets can be bought, sold, or transferred on marketplaces, and they carry embedded data (like seat number and owner) that is publicly verifiable. In practice, attendees show the NFT’s QR code, which is verified on-chain. As one industry guide explains, NFT tickets “are more difficult to tamper with” and each has a unique QR code scanned on the blockchain to confirm its validity. This stops fraud and scalping: the blockchain verifies original ownership, and events can even program features like royalties on secondary sales. Major festivals (e.g., Coachella) are exploring tokenized tickets, using NFTs for lifetime passes and collectibles.
Other Digital Assets: Even intangible services and digital rights can be tokenized. For example, some platforms allow users to buy/sell AI services or data using tokens. AIs, loyalty points, or gaming items all fall under the category of “digital asset tokenization.”
Each of the above tokens can be traded on-chain, like any other cryptocurrency. In many cases, trading these tokenized assets means swapping tokens on a blockchain DEX or specialized marketplace.
How On-Chain Trading Works
Once an asset is tokenized, it usually appears on a decentralized exchange (DEX) or specialized blockchain platform. Anyone can use a crypto wallet to trade these tokens. Here’s how it typically works:
Order Matching: Traders connect their wallets to a DEX and submit buy or sell orders for the tokenized asset. The exchange’s smart contracts automatically match buyers and sellers. Some platforms use automated market makers (AMMs) with liquidity pools, while others use direct order-book matching.
Settlement via Smart Contracts: When a trade is executed, smart contracts instantly handle the swap. For example, when you buy a tokenized gold token, the contract simultaneously transfers your payment token (e.g., USDT) to the seller and the gold token to your wallet. There is no human broker or settlement delay, hence everything is done on-chain in real time.
Transparent Ledger: All trades are recorded on the blockchain. Anyone can see the trade history and token balances, which boosts trust. There’s no private ledger, so transparency is built in.
Oracles and Price Data: For many tokenized assets, it’s essential that on-chain prices accurately reflect the real-world value. Protocols often utilize price oracles (such as Chainlink) to integrate live market prices into the blockchain.
Cross-Chain Trading: Some advanced platforms allow token trades across multiple blockchains. Through bridges and cross-chain agents, you might trade an asset on Ethereum against one on Binance Smart Chain, etc., without manually bridging each token. This expands liquidity by connecting ecosystems.
In short, trading tokenized assets on-chain works much like crypto trading, but applied to new asset classes. Users enjoy 24/7 global markets, atomic settlements, and open order books.
Platforms and Projects
Several projects specialize in on-chain trading of tokenized assets:
Carbon and Climate Platforms: Projects like Toucan Protocol and KlimaDAO focus on tokenized carbon credits. Toucan has become one of the largest carbon marketplaces, with its infrastructure scaling to over $4 billion in on-chain carbon trading volume. Toucan represents approximately 85% of all tokenized carbon credits. These platforms make it easy to buy/sell carbon-offset tokens and automatically track the retirement (or consumption) of credits.
NFT Marketplaces (Tickets, Art): General NFT platforms (OpenSea, Rarible, etc.) serve as trading venues for tokenized art, collectibles, and even event tickets. Fans can buy and sell these tickets on-chain, with smart contracts handling payments and access rights. The NFT approach prevents counterfeits and can automatically pay creators a fee on every resale.
Real Estate Exchanges: Platforms like RealT or Blocksquare tokenize rental properties and sell shares as tokens. These can trade on security-token exchanges or specialized DEXs. Such platforms demonstrate how tokenized real estate can be traded almost like crypto, with order books and on-chain settlements.
Other Examples: In addition to the above, many traditional exchanges and fintech companies are introducing tokenized asset services. For example, Axelar and others are enabling cross-chain token trades. DeFi lending platforms (MakerDAO, Aave) are starting to accept tokenized securities or bonds as collateral, effectively trading credit risk on-chain.
How Mettalex Fits In: AI-Powered Trading of Tokenized Assets
While tokenization unlocks new opportunities, trading these assets efficiently and profitably still poses challenges. Market fragmentation, liquidity gaps, and the complexity of cross-chain ecosystems often overwhelm both institutional and retail participants.
This is where Mettalex’s AI-driven trading agents come in.
Cross-Chain Execution – Agents can interact with multiple blockchains and protocols simultaneously, enabling seamless trading of tokenized carbon, commodities, or IP-backed assets without the need for manual bridging.
Perpetual Derivatives & Hedging – Mettalex extends beyond spot trading. By offering AI-powered perpetual contracts on tokenized assets, it allows investors to hedge price risk, just like traditional commodity markets.
Risk Management & Optimization – Mettalex agents dynamically adjust trading strategies based on volatility, liquidity depth, and oracle feeds, reducing exposure for traders.
Accessibility – With simple user interfaces and backend agent automation, even non-technical investors can gain exposure to tokenized markets globally.
In essence, Mettalex is building the infrastructure for a universal marketplace, where AI agents handle the complexity of trading, and users determine the level of exposure they desire. Whether it’s carbon credits, renewable energy, gold, or even event tickets, Mettalex provides tools to trade them efficiently and transparently on-chain.