Blockchain fragmentation already imposes a measurable economic cost on the token asset market, with inefficiencies translating into up to $1.3 billion in annual value impairment.
In a report sent to Cointelegraph, Real World Assets (RWA) Data provider RWA.io argued that while blockchain technology accelerates innovation, it has also created walls that trap liquidity and prevent capital from moving freely across networks.
As a result, tokenized ETFs increasingly behaved like separate markets rather than a single, unified financial system. The research found that identical or economically equivalent assets were routinely traded at different prices across chains, while moving capital between networks remained expensive and complex.
These deficiencies hinder the market’s ability to self-correct through arbitrage, a mechanism that facilitates efficient price discovery, the researchers stated.
“This fragmentation is the biggest barrier to the market realizing its multi-trillion dollar potential,” said Marco Federer, co-founder and COO of RWA.io.
“In traditional finance, the EU-wide Single European Payments Area (SEPA) instant mandate shows how value can move across accounts in seconds. Tokenized assets should be completely frictionless,” added Federer.
Price inefficiency and capital friction across chains
The report notes that one of the most obvious consequences of forklifting is the persistent price divergence of identical assets issued on different chains.
According to the report, economically identical token assets often trade at spreads of 1% to 3% across major networks, despite representing claims on the same underlying assets. In traditional finance, arbitrage quickly eliminates such gaps in the market.
However, cross-chain arbitrage remains unviable due to technical hurdles, fees, delays and operational risks, the report claims. It states that asset transfer costs often exceed price discrepancies, allowing inefficiencies to persist.
Beyond price discovery, RWA.io estimates that moving capital between non-interoperable chains results in losses of 2% to 5% per transaction. This is due to exchange fees, slippage, conversion costs, gas fees, and timing risks. Overall, the report shows an average loss of about 3.5% per capital reallocation.
If these fragmentation patterns continue, RWA.io has estimated that friction costs could drain between $600 million ($1.3 billion) from the market annually.
RWA.io predicts that real-world tokenized assets could grow into a $16 trillion to $30 trillion market by 2030, and warns that if current inefficiencies persist, the associated value decline will expand with them.
Applying the frictions associated with fragmentation today to a market of this size would imply potential annual losses ranging from $30 billion to $75 billion, which would turn infrastructure deficiencies into a physical constraint on long-term growth.
Related to: The tokenized shares may be on-chain, but the SEC still wants the keys
Tokenized assets are gaining traction despite inefficiency
Despite claims of inefficiency, token assets continue to gain traction across both native cryptocurrency platforms and traditional financial institutions. Just this week, companies took steps to tokenize the stock.
On Tuesday, RWA-focused Securitize Announced plans to launch Compatible, trade stocks onchain.
On Thursday, the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Launched stock trading featureWhich allows users to invest directly in stocks through its application.
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