Increasing demand for real-world asset (RWA) tokenization
Iota, an open-source blockchain developer, is taking steps to address the rising demand for tokenization of real-world assets (RWA). According to VanEck Research, the market capitalization for tokenized RWAs reached $342 billion in September, despite challenges in the crypto industry. Dominik Schiener, co-founder of Iota, believes that with clear regulations and support from large institutional investors and financial institutions, digital assets will gain significant public support by 2024.
Bringing assets from the traditional financial world to the blockchain
Asset tokenization refers to the process of bringing tangible or intangible assets from the traditional financial world onto the blockchain. This includes assets such as real estate, commodities, company shares, bonds, and invoices. One of the main advantages of tokenization is the increased liquidity it offers for these assets.
Iota's ShimmerEVM and Fireblocks integration
Iota's ShimmerEVM is an Ethereum-compliant smart contract that runs on the Shimmer blockchain, serving as a staging network for Iota. This allows for testing and development of new features and applications before integration into the Iota mainnet. The integration with Fireblocks, a provider of crypto custody and other solutions for institutional investors, enables Fireblocks customers to custody tokenized assets on ShimmerEVM. They can also initiate transactions on the chain directly from the Fireblocks console and API.
Accelerating growth of decentralized technologies in the Middle East
In November, Iota established its distributed ledger technology (DLT) foundation in the Middle East to promote the growth of decentralized technologies and asset tokenization in the region. Schiener sees this as a step towards tokenizing RWA assets on Iota and Shimmer.
