IMF: The tokenized market is still small and fragmented, requiring clear laws and regulations

On October 8, the IMF published a blog based on Chapter 3 of the Global Financial Stability Report for October 2026, indicating that the tokenized market is growing rapidly but remains very small and highly fragmented. The average daily trading volume of tokenized repurchase agreements is about $300 billion to $350 billion, while other tokenized assets amount to about $65 billion, compared to an average daily volume of about $13 trillion in the U.S. repurchase market, and a total global capital market asset size of $300 trillion.

The report points out that investors have shown interest in certain tokenized features, with more than half of the trades occurring outside traditional market hours, and about 80% of tokenized stock trades being less than 1 share. However, the tokenized market has lower liquidity and higher volatility than traditional markets, and cross-platform fragmentation weakens network effects. The IMF believes that legal certainty, regulatory clarity, interoperability, and secure settlement assets are four mutually reinforcing constraints.

The report also warns that scaling up could amplify traditional financial risks such as sell-offs, liquidity squeezes, and contagion. Policymakers should adopt a technology-neutral approach, clarify the legal rights of tokenized assets, ensure consistent regulation for similar activities, support interoperability between tokenized platforms and the traditional financial system, and continuously monitor interconnectedness, leverage, and liquidity risks.