RWA tokenization companies do very different jobs. Some structure compliant issuances. Some provide token standards, identity checks, and transfer restrictions. Some secure assets in institutional custody. A smaller set provides the secondary-market infrastructure needed after tokens are issued: order books, RFQ workflows, liquidity connectivity, and delivery-versus-payment settlement.
Issuers comparing RWA tokenization services should separate token creation from trading infrastructure. A provider that can mint tokens may not be able to create an active market for them. This guide maps the RWA tokenization provider landscape across issuance, compliance, custody, marketplaces, and vertically integrated ecosystems so asset owners can evaluate who does what before selecting partners.
RWA tokenization platforms do different jobs: some issue and manage tokenized securities, some are chains built for regulated assets, some issue their own tokenized products, and some provide the market where tokens trade after issuance. This page compares Liquid Mercury, Ondo, Polymesh, Securitize and Tokeny by the job each says it does, using only each vendor's own public pages, rechecked on 2026-10-20. An asset tokenization platform is software that issues, manages and transfers tokens representing rights in real-world assets.
How to read this comparison
- Public sources only. Every vendor cell comes from that vendor's own page, linked in the source column. Nothing comes from a third-party review.
- Dated. All pages were rechecked on 2026-10-20. Vendor products and figures change, so check the source before relying on a cell.
- No rankings. The platforms are listed alphabetically and no platform is called best, leading or top. Different jobs are not substitutes for each other.
- Same columns for everyone. Liquid Mercury is described in the same columns as the others, from its own product materials.
A figure in a cell, such as a customer count, is the vendor's own statement and is attributed to it. Where a fact could not be read from the vendor's page, the cell says so.
For background on the category, see the RWA tokenization guide for institutions and the RWA glossary entry. Liquid Mercury's own role is tokenized asset marketplace infrastructure, the trading layer, and its Mercury RWA secondary market is described in the same columns as every other vendor.
Types of RWA Tokenization Services
The most useful way to compare RWA tokenization providers is by the service layer they control. A complete tokenized-asset program usually needs legal structuring, investor onboarding, token issuance, custody, compliance controls, secondary trading, market data, and post-trade settlement. Very few companies own every layer directly.
Issuance-focused providers help create compliant digital securities and manage investor records. Infrastructure providers supply token standards, identity frameworks, smart contracts, and workflow tools. Custody providers secure the tokens and sometimes the payment leg. Marketplace operators handle price discovery and trading. Vertically integrated ecosystems combine several of these pieces, which can reduce handoffs when the issuer needs a full path from asset creation through secondary liquidity.
The practical question is not which company has the broadest marketing claim. It is which service provider owns the hard part of the issuer's problem: regulated issuance, eligible-investor controls, custody, liquidity, or institutional execution.
- Issuance providers: structure offerings, create tokens, maintain investor records, and manage primary distribution.
- Compliance and identity providers: enforce KYC, AML, accreditation, jurisdictional limits, and transfer restrictions.
- Custody providers: secure tokenized assets and payment assets for institutional investors and issuers.
- Marketplace providers: support price discovery, order matching, RFQ workflows, liquidity access, and secondary trading.
- Integrated RWA providers: combine multiple service layers so assets can move from token creation to tradable markets.
Infrastructure Providers and Token Platforms
Infrastructure providers supply the foundational technology for creating, managing, and transferring tokenized assets. They do not typically issue or trade tokens themselves but provide the tools for others to do so.
Securitize is the most established name in the category. Founded in 2017 and registered as an SEC-regulated transfer agent and broker-dealer, Securitize provides end-to-end tokenization infrastructure including issuance, investor management, and compliance. Their DS Protocol handles on-chain compliance, and they have tokenized assets for firms including BlackRock (the BUIDL fund) and KKR. Securitize's recent acquisition of a broker-dealer license and ATS registration positions them as both infrastructure provider and marketplace operator.
Polymath pioneered the security token standard with ST-20 and later built Polymesh, a purpose-built blockchain for regulated assets. Polymesh features identity-at-the-protocol level, compliance rules enforced by the chain itself, and governance mechanisms designed for regulated securities. The tradeoff is ecosystem lock-in: assets on Polymesh cannot easily interoperate with Ethereum-based infrastructure.
Tokeny Solutions (formerly Tokeny) focuses on the European market, providing ERC-3643-compliant tokenization infrastructure. Their ONCHAINID protocol handles decentralized identity for compliant transfers. Tokeny has processed tokenizations for several European financial institutions and benefits from the emerging MiCA regulatory framework.
Fireblocks, while primarily a custody and treasury platform, has become critical infrastructure for RWA tokenization through its tokenization engine. Fireblocks provides secure key management, policy engines, and direct integrations with token platforms, making it the custody layer of choice for many institutional tokenization projects.
DigiShares, Vertalo, and InvestaX round out the issuance platform category, each targeting different geographies and asset classes.
- Securitize: SEC-registered transfer agent and broker-dealer, tokenized BlackRock BUIDL and KKR funds
- Polymath/Polymesh: Purpose-built blockchain with protocol-level identity and compliance
- Tokeny (ERC-3643): European-focused tokenization with ONCHAINID for compliant transfers
- Fireblocks: Custody and tokenization engine used by most institutional projects
- DigiShares, Vertalo, InvestaX: Regional and asset-class-specific issuance platforms
Marketplace and Exchange Operators
Marketplace operators provide the venue where tokenized assets are actually traded. This category is the thinnest and most underdeveloped part of the ecosystem, which is precisely why it represents the largest opportunity.
tZERO, backed by Overstock, was one of the first SEC-regulated platforms for trading digital securities. They operate an ATS and have listed tokenized equity and debt instruments. However, tZERO has struggled with liquidity depth and has undergone multiple strategic pivots.
INX operates a regulated trading platform for digital securities in both the U.S. and internationally. Their dual-listing capability (security tokens and utility tokens) gives them a broader addressable market, though security token volumes remain modest.
Swarm Markets operates a DeFi-compliant exchange in Germany, regulated by BaFin. Their approach bridges permissioned compliance with decentralized trading mechanics, an interesting hybrid model that may preview the future of regulated DeFi.
Liquid Mercury takes a fundamentally different approach with Mercury RWA. Rather than building a single centralized marketplace, Mercury RWA provides institutional-grade marketplace infrastructure that can be deployed as a white-label solution. This means each asset issuer or fund manager can launch their own branded marketplace powered by Mercury's matching engine, compliance framework, and settlement integration. The shared infrastructure generates network effects as liquidity aggregates across marketplaces.
The matching engine underlying Mercury RWA is the same technology that powers institutional crypto exchange trading, delivering microsecond latency, institutional order types (iceberg, TWAP, stop-limit), and the execution quality that professional traders require. DvP settlement through BitGo, embedded KYC/AML, and institutional EMS/OMS complete the stack.
This infrastructure-as-a-service model solves the cold-start problem that plagues standalone tokenized security exchanges. Instead of building one marketplace and hoping assets and liquidity arrive, Mercury RWA enables a network of interconnected marketplaces that share liquidity while maintaining independent compliance frameworks.
- tZERO: SEC-regulated ATS for digital securities, early mover with liquidity challenges
- INX: Dual-listing platform for security and utility tokens with U.S. and international registration
- Swarm Markets: BaFin-regulated DeFi-compliant exchange in Germany
- Liquid Mercury (Mercury RWA): Infrastructure-as-a-service marketplace with institutional matching engine and white-label deployment
Comparison table
| Platform | Primary role | Asset focus | Chains | Compliance approach | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liquid Mercury (Mercury RWA) | Secondary-market and execution infrastructure; the product materials also list primary issuance support | Multi-asset: tokenized securities, funds, real assets, digital assets and stablecoins | Not stated in the materials read | Automated KYC/AML, programmable transfer restrictions, audit and reporting; BitGo custody integration with KYC verification; DvP settlement | Mercury RWA and Mercury Pro product materials; https://www.liquidmercury.com/mercury-rwa (accessed 2026-10-15) |
| Ondo | Issuer of its own tokenized products. Homepage lists Ondo Stocks, USDY, OUSG and Ondo Private Markets, and describes institutional-grade infrastructure | Public securities (Ondo Stocks, marked "Not Available in US"), what Ondo calls a "yieldcoin" (USDY, marked "Not Available in US"), short-term US Treasuries (OUSG), private company exposure | Not stated in homepage text | Says it holds product assets at third-party qualified custodians, with daily independent accounting and annual audits; states a compliance-first focus | https://ondo.finance/ |
| Polymesh | A public permissioned blockchain built for regulated assets and capital markets | Fungible and non-fungible assets issued natively on the chain; confidential assets are listed as pre-release on testnet | Its own chain, with the POLYX token used for fees, staking and operation | Verified on-chain identity for participants in identity- and asset-related transactions; compliance rules for transfers and ownership enforced at the protocol level; atomic settlement of multiple assets and parties | https://developers.polymesh.network/ |
| Securitize | Issuance of tokenized funds and securities, fund services and reporting; also an investing platform for tokenized funds and public stocks | Tokenized funds, private funds, public stocks, alternative assets and registered funds | States 20+ natively integrated public blockchains | States "regulated infrastructure built in"; a footnote refers to its broker-dealer and transfer agent entities | https://securitize.io/ |
| Tokeny | Issue, manage and distribute tokenized securities; lifecycle management and corporate actions | Tokenized securities | Supports both private and public blockchains | On-chain compliance and controls; investors identified through digital identity; created the open-source ERC-3643 standard in 2018 | https://tokeny.com/ |
Vendor-reported figures from the same pages: Tokeny states $32 billion total value tokenized and 120+ customers (per Tokeny site, https://tokeny.com/). Securitize states 660+ active funds on Securitize Fund Services, 500K+ retail accounts and 1K+ institutional accounts (per Securitize site, https://securitize.io/), with the footnotes on its page giving "data as of April 2026" for part of those figures. These are the vendors' numbers, not Liquid Mercury's, and they measure different things, so they should not be compared with each other.
Issuance and lifecycle platforms
Tokeny and Securitize are the two on this list that describe a path from structuring to launch for a third-party issuer. Tokeny presents a no-code and API-ready product to issue tokenized securities, set transfer rules, manage investors and corporate actions, and distribute to open networks. Securitize presents "one path from structure to launch" for tokenized funds and securities, and adds fund administration and reporting services.
Polymesh sits one layer lower. It is the chain, not an issuer's front end. Issuers build on it, or use a platform that does.
Ondo is different again. It issues tokenized products under its own name. Whether it also offers issuance to third-party institutions as a service is not stated in the homepage text.
Secondary-market and execution infrastructure
Liquid Mercury's Mercury RWA is in this group. Its product materials describe a marketplace platform for the trading lifecycle, an institutional execution and order management system, and a settlement path built on Mercury Ledger position keeping, BitGo custody integration and delivery-versus-payment execution. Several of the others also offer ways to buy or hold tokens on their own platforms, so the groups overlap. The difference this page draws is where each vendor puts its main product, not that one cannot do the other's job.
Issuer criteria checklist
Eight questions to put to any vendor. The "ask the vendor" line gives the evidence to request.
- Legal structure support. Does the vendor help set up the fund, vehicle or note? Ask: who is the legal counterparty, and which jurisdictions are covered?
- Transfer restrictions. Where are eligibility rules enforced? Ask: show an ineligible wallet being refused a transfer.
- Custody. Who holds the underlying asset and the tokens? Ask: name the custodian and show the reconciliation.
- KYC and AML. Who runs the checks and how often? Ask: what triggers a re-check of an existing holder?
- Secondary liquidity. Where can the token trade after issuance? Ask: name the venue and who can access it.
- Settlement. How do the token and the payment move? Ask: is it delivery versus payment, and in what currency?
- Reporting. What audit trail and regulatory reporting exist? Ask: provide a sample report.
- Exit terms. What happens to tokens, data and code if you leave? Ask: what is portable and under what terms?
How to Evaluate RWA Tokenization Companies
With dozens of companies competing across the RWA tokenization landscape, selecting the right partners requires evaluating several key dimensions.
Regulatory standing is the first filter. Is the company registered with relevant regulators (SEC, FINRA, BaFin, MAS)? Do they hold the necessary licenses for the activities they perform (broker-dealer, transfer agent, ATS)? Unregistered platforms create regulatory risk for everyone who uses them.
Technology maturity separates production systems from proofs-of-concept. Has the platform processed real trades with real assets and real investors? How does the matching engine perform under load? Is the compliance engine battle-tested across multiple regulatory frameworks? Ask for reference customers and transaction volumes.
Secondary market capability is often the missing piece. Many companies can help you tokenize an asset. Far fewer can help you create a liquid market for it. Evaluate whether the platform provides genuine secondary trading infrastructure (matching engine, market data, settlement) or simply lists tokens on a bulletin board.
Custody and settlement integration determines institutional viability. Does the platform integrate with qualified custodians? Does it support DvP settlement? Can it handle both fiat and stablecoin settlement legs? Institutional investors will not participate without these capabilities.
Ecosystem and network effects matter increasingly. Platforms connected to broader ecosystems (investor networks, multiple issuers, DeFi integrations) can provide liquidity advantages that isolated platforms cannot. The LM Labs model of combining venture, tokenization, and marketplace infrastructure demonstrates how ecosystem integration creates compounding value.
Team expertise should span both technology and market structure. The best tokenization technology, deployed without understanding of how markets work, produces systems that function technically but fail commercially. Look for teams with experience in both blockchain engineering and institutional financial markets.
- Regulatory standing: Required licenses and registrations for all activities performed
- Technology maturity: Real trades, real assets, real investors; not just demos
- Secondary market capability: Genuine trading infrastructure vs. static listing
- Custody/settlement: Qualified custodian integration and DvP settlement support
- Ecosystem: Network effects from connected investors, issuers, and liquidity sources
- Team: Combined expertise in blockchain technology and institutional market structure
If you are still deciding whether to build, license or white-label, read RWA tokenization platform: build, license or white-label first.
Where Liquid Mercury fits
Liquid Mercury focuses on secondary-market and execution infrastructure, with primary-issuance support described in the Mercury RWA materials. Mercury RWA is the secondary-market and execution layer: it is meant to give tokens that already exist a place to trade, settle and reconcile.
What the Mercury RWA product materials say it does:
- a marketplace for the trading lifecycle, from asset discovery and onboarding through execution and settlement
- an institutional execution and order management system
- compliance infrastructure with automated KYC/AML, programmable transfer restrictions, and audit and reporting
- settlement through Mercury Ledger position keeping, BitGo custody integration and delivery-versus-payment execution
- a white-label marketplace in which the issuer sets the rules, controls access and defines the trading parameters
What it does not do, based on those materials: it does not design the legal structure for an offering, and it is not a token standard or a chain. The materials list support for primary issuance, Ask any platform which issuance steps it performs itself and which come from partners.
The deck also frames the market as one where "digital representation does not automatically create liquid markets." Whether an issuer needs a separate marketplace layer depends on whether the issuance platform it picks already provides a place to trade. Learn more on the Mercury RWA page.
RWA tokenization investors
RWA tokenization investors, meaning allocators and treasurers who buy tokenized products, usually care about different things from issuers. They look at the legal structure behind the token, the custodian, eligibility rules and whether the token can be sold again. Some tokenized products are not available in the US, so check each issuer's own eligibility terms. A token with no secondary market can be hard to exit, which is why the trading layer matters to investors as well as issuers. The BIS describes the range of designs in The tokenisation continuum.
Which platform type fits which issuer
| Issuer situation | Platform type to look at first | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A fund manager launching a tokenized fund | Issuance and lifecycle platform | Needs structuring support, investor register and transfer rules before anything else |
| A bank or institution building its own regulated asset infrastructure | Purpose-built chain or an issuance platform with private-chain support | Needs control over identity and compliance at the network level |
| A treasurer or allocator wanting exposure to a tokenized product | An issuer's own tokenized product | The product is the point; check eligibility, since some products are not available in the US |
| An issuer with a token and no place to trade it | Secondary-market and execution infrastructure | Needs order handling, price discovery and settlement |
| An exchange or broker adding tokenized assets | Secondary-market and execution infrastructure, plus a custodian | Needs connectivity, execution and reconciliation |
None of these types excludes the others. A common program uses an issuance platform, a custodian and a separate trading venue.
Venture, Incubation, and Vertically Integrated Ecosystems
A new category of RWA tokenization companies is emerging: vertically integrated ecosystems that combine venture investment, asset tokenization, and marketplace infrastructure. This model addresses the chicken-and-egg problem of tokenized markets: you need assets to attract liquidity, and you need liquidity to attract assets.
LM Labs, Liquid Mercury's venture arm, applies this model through LabCos connected to Mercury RWA's marketplace infrastructure. The public LabCo roster spans CVP, TokenBloq, GlassPort Digital, Stratofied, ISO, and Annex, covering private capital, verified digital-asset strategies, student loans, sports-business equity, institutional crypto options, and electronics re-commerce. Each LabCo can access secondary market infrastructure that would take years to build independently, while the marketplace receives a pipeline of diverse tokenized-asset use cases.
Animoca Brands takes a broader approach, investing across gaming, metaverse, and tokenized assets. Their portfolio companies collectively create an ecosystem of digital assets that benefit from shared infrastructure and cross-promotion.
Republic has evolved from a crowdfunding platform into a tokenization and investment ecosystem, with Republic Crypto, Republic Real Estate, and Republic Note creating a vertically integrated stack for asset creation and distribution.
The vertical integration trend reflects a maturing market that has learned a key lesson: point solutions (an issuance platform here, a marketplace there, a custodian elsewhere) create friction. Integrated ecosystems that control the full value chain from asset creation through trading and settlement can optimize the entire experience and capture more value.
- LM Labs: Venture studio tied to Mercury RWA, with public LabCos spanning CVP, TokenBloq, GlassPort Digital, Stratofied, ISO, and Annex
- Animoca Brands: Broad digital asset ecosystem across gaming, metaverse, and tokenization
- Republic: Evolved from crowdfunding to vertically integrated tokenization and investment platform
DeFi Protocols Integrating RWA
Decentralized finance protocols have become significant participants in the RWA tokenization ecosystem, primarily as demand-side aggregators that channel crypto-native capital into real-world yield.
MakerDAO (now Sky) led the DeFi-RWA integration through its real-world asset vaults. MakerDAO allocated billions in DAI backing to tokenized U.S. Treasuries and structured credit, making it one of the largest institutional buyers of tokenized assets. This demonstrated that DeFi protocols could serve as reliable, large-scale demand sources for RWA tokens.
Ondo Finance focuses specifically on tokenized Treasuries and money market instruments, offering products like USDY (yield-bearing stablecoin backed by Treasuries) and OUSG (tokenized short-term U.S. government bonds). Ondo has quickly scaled to hundreds of millions in TVL.
Maple Finance provides institutional lending infrastructure, connecting institutional borrowers with on-chain lenders. Their credit pools function as tokenized structured credit instruments with transparent performance tracking.
Centrifuge operates a protocol for tokenizing real-world credit assets (invoices, mortgages, structured credit) and connecting them with DeFi liquidity. Their integration with MakerDAO and Aave brought significant DeFi capital into RWA.
Goldfinch focuses on emerging-market lending, tokenizing credit pools for borrowers in developing economies. The protocol provides crypto-native investors with exposure to real-world credit yields that are uncorrelated with crypto markets.
The DeFi-RWA convergence is significant because it demonstrates that demand for tokenized assets extends well beyond traditional institutional investors. Crypto-native treasuries, DAOs, and DeFi protocols collectively represent billions in potential demand for yield-bearing tokenized assets. Marketplace infrastructure that can serve both traditional institutional and DeFi-native participants will capture the broadest demand pool.
- MakerDAO/Sky: Billions in DAI backed by tokenized Treasuries and structured credit
- Ondo Finance: Tokenized Treasuries (OUSG) and yield-bearing stablecoins (USDY), hundreds of millions in TVL
- Maple Finance: Institutional lending infrastructure with transparent on-chain credit pools
- Centrifuge: Real-world credit tokenization protocol integrated with MakerDAO and Aave
- Goldfinch: Emerging-market lending pools offering uncorrelated yield to crypto investors
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the requirements for a tokenization platform?
What compliance features matter for an RWA tokenization platform?
What is a regulated tokenization platform?
How does tokenization work for a bank or a fintech company?
Which blockchain platforms offer built-in RWA tokenization modules that still let you keep custody of your keys?
What are the top 10 tokenization companies?
Who are the leading RWA tokenization companies?
What makes Liquid Mercury different from other RWA tokenization companies?
What RWA tokenization services should issuers compare?
Which RWA tokenization companies are SEC-registered?
Which companies provide RWA tokenization, and can you list the providers and platforms?
Which tokenization platforms support trading of real-world assets?
How should a bank or trust company choose a tokenization platform for regulated, multi-jurisdiction use?
What is an asset tokenization platform?
Mercury RWA
Mercury RWA provides the institutional-grade secondary marketplace infrastructure that most RWA tokenization companies lack. White-label deployment, institutional matching engine, DvP settlement through BitGo, and embedded compliance for regulated tokenized assets.
See Mercury RWA in ActionRelated Reading
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What Is RWA Tokenization? A Beginner's Guide
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How Tokenized Securities Marketplaces Work
Deep dive into the mechanics and infrastructure of secondary markets for tokenized securities.
RWA Tokenization Platform: Build, License or White-Label?
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