Tokenization as a driver for growth and financial inclusion: Lessons from emerging markets

The case for tokenization varies across asset classes and jurisdictions. The calculus – and speed of adoption of technology - is likely to be different for existing financial centres, tied to traditional financial market infrastructure and where incumbents have significant sway and large parts of the population have access to digital money and financial services, and emerging economies, which can leapfrog. Despite that, the public discussion and the discussion in global fora is heavily shaped by the experience of AEs. This roundtable would aim to address that gap, identifying use cases prevalent in Emerging Market and Developing Economies_ (_EMDEs) and fostering an exchange about options to regulate tokenization. It would be complementary to the work IOSCO has done so far, and supportive of the current workstream on tokenization.

This roundtable will bring together market participants and regulators from select EDME jurisdictions to discuss:

a.       Specific use cases for tokenisation in EMDEs

b.       Key regulatory and policy considerations, including barriers to tokenisation

c.       Regulatory innovation initiatives and challenges of moving from experimentation to regulatory reform

Observers can refer to these pre-reading reference materials to prepare for the roundtable:

• Tokenisation in the context of money and other assets: concepts and implications for central banks, BIS -
• The Financial Stability Implications of Tokenisation, FSB - 
• "Tokenisation in Financial Services: Pathways to Scale" - Opening Keynote Address by Mr Leong Sing Chiong, Deputy Managing Director (Markets & Development), Monetary Authority of Singapore, at the Layer One Summit on 4 November 2024, MAS,
• Tokenisation of assets and distributed ledger technologies in financial markets, OECD -