The investment landscape may be approaching a fundamental transformation that could eventually (we stress the word eventually) reshape how investors access and hold financial assets within a portfolio. Asset tokenization — that is, the process of converting ownership rights in real-world assets into digital tokens on blockchain networks — represents what financial historians may eventually recognize as the third major evolution in investment vehicles, following the introduction of mutual funds in 1924 and exchange-traded funds in the early 2000s.

Unlike the speculative cryptocurrency activity of recent years, this development is being driven by established financial institutions seeking operational efficiency and expanded access to previously exclusive investment opportunities. (Of course, readers who have seen Guild Investment Management’s critiques of the mainstreaming of private credit and private equity know that we’re skeptical of many aspects of this pu