Following its launch at the Future Tokenisation Forum on 5 November, the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), the independent banking, financial services, and markets regulator of Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), has published Scaling Tokenisation: The Road Ahead, a white paper examining the conditions that may support the responsible development of tokenised financial assets and related market infrastructure at scale.

The white paper considers tokenisation at an important point of transition from experimentation towards practical use across financial products and market infrastructure. A growing number of tokenised products and infrastructure applications are moving into live use, but adoption remains concentrated in particular asset classes and use cases.

Drawing on structured interviews with practitioners from BlackRock, Ripple, Robinhood, Soter Insure, and Standard Chartered, alongside DFSA expertise and publicly available regulatory, industry, and market research, the white paper highlights areas of broad agreement, differing market views, and practical questions requiring continued discussion across the public and private sectors.

Key highlights 

The white paper identifies five themes that will help shape the next phase of tokenisation:

• Network effects are bringing significant benefits within reach. The next phase will depend less on the technical feasibility of individual products and more on whether issuers, investors, intermediaries, infrastructure providers, technology firms, and settlement asset providers can connect across a wider ecosystem.
• Cross-border coordination and common standards will be key enablers. Detailed regulatory harmonisation may not be realistic in the near term, but greater consistency in legal, operational and technical standards can reduce fragmentation and provide clearer conditions for investment and participation.
• Custody is key to overcoming concerns around safety and security. Issuers and institutional investors are unlikely to deploy tokenisation at scale until they are confident that the associated risks can be appropriately managed. Regulated custody can help institutions manage their exposure.
• Access to digital cash is a priority. A widely accepted and trusted form of digital cash on-chain is an important prerequisite for tokenisation to deliver benefits, such as simultaneous settlement. Potential settlement models include regulated stablecoins, tokenised commercial bank deposits, and wholesale central bank money.
• Interoperability will be crucial to achieving scale. Without greater interoperability between blockchains, between trading platforms and between tokenised and traditional market infrastructure, platforms risk becoming isolated “digital islands” that fragment liquidity. Interoperability extends beyond technical connectivity to include workable operational processes, legal certainty, and regulatory coordination across platforms and jurisdictions.

The white paper also notes that tokenisation appears unlikely to pose a material risk to financial stability at its current scale. However, its implications could grow as tokenised markets expand, become more interconnected with traditional finance, and extend across trading, settlement, collateral, and funding markets.

Mark Steward, Chief Executive of the DFSA, said: “Across major international financial centres, the focus is shifting from whether tokenisation can work to how it will work and what needs to change in today’s markets. What stands out from this white paper is that technology alone will not determine the future of tokenisation. Success will also depend on trusted market infrastructure, effective governance and risk management, legal and regulatory certainty, interoperability, commercial viability, and cooperation across the public and private sectors. 

No single firm, regulator, or jurisdiction can answer these questions alone. We have brought together perspectives from across the market to support further discussion among industry participants, investors, regulators, policymakers, and international standard-setters.”

The white paper does not prescribe a particular technological, regulatory, or commercial outcome. Instead, it presents a range of market perspectives and highlights questions requiring continued discussion across the public and private sectors.

The full white paper, Scaling Tokenisation: The Road Ahead, is available on the DFSA website.