Chetan Karkhanis said fragmented standards, cross-border rules and weak liquidity are holding back tokenized real-world assets more than core blockchain technology.
Franklin Templeton said the main constraints on tokenized real-world assets have shifted from building the technology to solving fragmented standards, regulation and distribution. In an interview with Bitcoin.com News, Chetan Karkhanis, who leads digital asset partnerships in Asia-Pacific, said interoperability across Layer 1 blockchains, permissioned and permissionless networks, and different forms of tokenized cash remains a technical obstacle, but broader adoption now depends more on regulatory clarity across borders, investor education and commercial distribution. Franklin Templeton reported assets under management of $1.78 trillion as of May 31, 2026. Karkhanis said tokenized RWA issuance and liquidity are still small relative to traditional markets, while many banks, brokerages and fund platforms remain at the proof-of-concept stage. He argued that adoption is more likely to be driven by familiar products such as tokenized stocks, bonds and exchange-traded funds, and that long-term success should be measured by asset growth, investor participation and secondary-market liquidity rather than issuance volumes alone.