{
  "title": "The Rise of Tokenization: Deciphering New Trends in Payments and Asset Tokenization",
  "publication": "IMF Notes, July 2, 2026",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/publications/imf-notes/issues/2026/07/01/the-rise-of-tokenization-deciphering-new-trends-in-payments-and-asset-tokenization-577138",
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  "summary": "Tokenization is an area of growing interest in financial services. At its core, it involves issuing assets, recording ownership, and transacting on a blockchain. While simple in concept, its implications for market structure, risk management, inclusion, and public policy are complex.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Overview",
      "content": "- Tokenization involves issuing assets, recording ownership, and transacting on a blockchain.\n- While simple in concept, tokenization has complex implications for market structure, risk management, inclusion, and public policy.\n- Policymakers face rapid technological change and experimentation and need to distinguish durable trends from temporary developments.\n- This Note identifies emerging issues most relevant for policy without prescribing specific choices.\n- The Note focuses on infrastructure and asset-layer developments, while noting how services are evolving in response."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Three-layer framework (organizing structure)",
      "content": "- Infrastructure layer:\n  - Covers the rails and rules for settlement.\n- Asset layer:\n  - Includes tokenized money and financial assets such as stablecoins, deposits, CBDCs, securities, and money market funds.\n- Services layer:\n  - Includes wallets, exchanges, and related applications.\n- This paper is organized around the three-layer framework and concentrates on infrastructure and asset-layer developments."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Emerging issues and policy-relevant themes",
      "content": "- Market structure:\n  - Tokenization can alter market structure through new settlement rails and record-keeping approaches.\n- Risk management:\n  - Tokenized assets raise new risk management considerations for regulators and market participants.\n- Inclusion:\n  - Tokenization may affect financial inclusion, with implications for access and participation.\n- Public policy:\n  - Policymakers must assess durable technological and market changes versus temporary experimentation.\n- Interplay across layers:\n  - Developments in infrastructure and assets influence how services (wallets, exchanges, applications) evolve."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Key takeaways for policymakers",
      "content": "- Focus on distinguishing durable trends from temporary developments amid rapid experimentation.\n- Prioritize understanding of infrastructure-layer rails and rules that govern settlement.\n- Evaluate asset-layer implications for tokenized money, stablecoins, deposits, CBDCs, securities, and money market funds.\n- Monitor how service-layer innovations in wallets, exchanges, and applications respond to changes in infrastructure and assets.\n- The Note identifies emerging issues most relevant for policy without prescribing specific policy choices.\n\nSource: The Rise of Tokenization: Deciphering New Trends in Payments and Asset Tokenization, Tobias Adrian; Yaiza Cabedo; Tommaso Mancini-Griffoli, July 2, 2026 (IMF Notes).\n\n---\n\n Content in this bundle\n\n- Insea2026006\n  - Insea2026006 (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - Insea2026006 (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n\n---\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/imf-notes/issues/2026/07/01/the-rise-of-tokenization-deciphering-new-trends-in-payments-and-asset-tokenization-577138"
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    "Authors: Tobias Adrian, Yaiza Cabedo, Tommaso Mancini-Griffoli",
    "Published: July 2, 2026",
    "Series: IMF Notes",
    "DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798229049054.068",
    "Tokenization involves issuing assets, recording ownership, and transacting on a blockchain.",
    "While simple in concept, tokenization has complex implications for market structure, risk management, inclusion, and public policy.",
    "Policymakers face rapid technological change and experimentation and need to distinguish durable trends from temporary developments.",
    "This Note identifies emerging issues most relevant for policy without prescribing specific choices.",
    "The Note focuses on infrastructure and asset-layer developments, while noting how services are evolving in response.",
    "Infrastructure layer:",
    "Asset layer:",
    "Services layer:",
    "This paper is organized around the three-layer framework and concentrates on infrastructure and asset-layer developments.",
    "Market structure:",
    "Risk management:",
    "Inclusion:",
    "Public policy:",
    "Interplay across layers:",
    "Focus on distinguishing durable trends from temporary developments amid rapid experimentation.",
    "Prioritize understanding of infrastructure-layer rails and rules that govern settlement.",
    "Evaluate asset-layer implications for tokenized money, stablecoins, deposits, CBDCs, securities, and money market funds.",
    "Monitor how service-layer innovations in wallets, exchanges, and applications respond to changes in infrastructure and assets.",
    "The Note identifies emerging issues most relevant for policy without prescribing specific policy choices.",
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