FinanceandEconomicsDiscussionSeries FederalReserveBoard,Washington,D.C.ISSN1936-2854(Print) ISSN2767-3898(Online) Tokenization:OverviewandFinancialStabilityImplications FrancescaCarapella,GraceChuan,JacobGerszten,ChelseaHunter,NathanSwem 2023-060 Pleasecitethispaperas: Carapella,Francesca,GraceChuan,JacobGerszten,ChelseaHunter,andNathanSwem(2023).“Tokenization:OverviewandFinancialStabilityImplications,”FinanceandEco-nomicsDiscussionSeries2023-060.Washington:BoardofGovernorsoftheFederalReserveSystem,https://doi.org/10.17016/FEDS.2023.060. NOTE:StaffworkingpapersintheFinanceandEconomicsDiscussionSeries(FEDS)arepreliminarymaterialscirculatedtostimulatediscussionandcriticalcomment.TheanalysisandconclusionssetfortharethoseoftheauthorsanddonotindicateconcurrencebyothermembersoftheresearchstaffortheBoardofGovernors.ReferencesinpublicationstotheFinanceandEconomicsDiscussionSeries(otherthanacknowledgement)shouldbeclearedwiththeauthor(s)toprotectthetentativecharacterofthesepapers. Tokenization:OverviewandFinancialStabilityImplications∗ GraceChuan2,JacobGerszten3,ChelseaHunter4,NathanSwem5,andFrancescaCarapella†1 1,2,3,4,5FederalReserveBoardofGovernors August3,2023 Abstract Inthispaperweoutlinetokenization,whichisanewandrapidlygrowingfinan-cialinnovationincryptoassetmarkets,andwediscusspotentialbenefitsandfinancialstabilityimplications.Tokenizationreferstotheprocessofconstructingdigitalrep-resentations(cryptotokens)fornon-cryptoassets(referenceassets).1Aswediscussbelow,tokenizationscreateinterconnectionsbetweenthedigitalassetecosystemandthetraditionalfinancialsystem.Atsufficientscale,tokenizedassetscouldtransmitvolatilityfromcryptoassetmarketstothemarketsforthecryptotoken’sreferenceassets. Keywords:tokenization,crypto-assets,blockchain,decentralizedfinance,DeFi,Finan-cialstabilityandrisk,financialinnovations,interconnections JELClassificationNumbers:D49,D53,G00,G10,G20,G23 ∗Theopinionsaretheauthors’anddonotrepresentthoseoftheFederalReserveSystemoritsstaff. †Correspondingauthor:E-mailFrancesca.Carapella@frb.gov 1Foradditionalinformationandotherdetailsoftokenization,pleasesee:Thetokenisationcontinuum(bis.org). 1.Tokenizationdesignfeatures Theterm“tokenization”referstotheprocessoflinkingreferenceassetstocryptotokensviadesignfeaturesthatlinkthetoken’spricetothevalueofthetoken’sreferenceasset.2Inthestrictestsense,tokenizationwouldallowforacryptotokenholdertohavealegallyenforceableownershipclaimoverthetoken’sreferenceasset.3Sofar,tokenizationprojectshavebeentypicallyfinancedanddevelopedbysmallventure-capitalbackedcryptocompa-nies.Inaddition,financialfirmssuchasSantander,JPMorgan,andFranklinTempleton,haveannouncedcryptorelatedprojectsorpilotprogramsrelatingtotokenization.4 Asisthecasewithstablecoins,tokenizationshavewidelyvaryingdesignfeaturesandcharacteristics.5Ingeneral,atokenizationinvolvesfivedesignfeatures:1)ablockchain, 2)areferenceasset,3)amechanismtoassessthevalueofthereferenceasset,4)ameanstostoreand/orprovidecustodyforthereferenceasset,and5)amechanismtofacilitateredemptionsofthetokenand/orthereferenceasset.Takentogether,thesecomponentsgeneratelinksbetweenthecryptomarketsandthemarketsforthereferenceassets.Thesedesignchoicescanhelpdistinguishtokentypesandhelpdetermineeachtype’simpactontraditionalfinancialmarkets. Thefirsttokenizationdesignelementthatweoutlineistheunderlyingblockchainonwhichthecryptotokensareissued,stored,andtransacted.Somecryptotokensareis-suedonprivatepermissionedblockchains,andothersareissuedonpublicpermissionlessblockchains.Apermissionedblockchainisgenerallycontrolledbyacentralizedentitythatgrantsapprovaltoselectedusersinanisolatedecosystem.6Cryptotokensissuedonpermis-sionlessblockchains(Bitcoin,Ethereum,Solana,etc.)arebroadlyaccessibleandcanbeusedwithfewerrestrictions.Cryptotokensonpermissionlessblockchainscanalsobeincorporatedintodecentralizedfinance(DeFi)protocolssuchasdecentralizedexchanges.7Cryptotokenissuersretainfarlesscontrolovercryptotokensissuedonpermissionlessblockchainsthandoissuersofcryptotokensonpermissionedblockchains.PleaseseeTable1forexamplesoftokensissuedonpermissionedandpermissionlessblockchains.8 Anothercomponentoftokenizationsisthecryptotoken’sreferenceasset.Referenceassets 2Whiletokenizationcanoccuronnon-blockchaindistributedledgers,inthispaperwefocusonblockchain- basedtokenizations. 3Foradditionalinformationandotherdetailsoftokenization,pleasesee:Aldasoroetal.(2023) 4Foranexample,seeTheClearingHouse(2022) 5SeeAzaretal.(2022),andBaughmanetal.(2022)(amongmanyothers)formoreinformationregardingvariousstablecoindesignfeatures. 6Formoreinformation,seePolgeetal.(2021) 7SeeCarapellaetal.(2022)formoreinformationonDeFi. 8Theissueroftokenizedassetsonapermissionedblockchaincancontrolthegovernanceoftheblockchain,theleveloftransparencyontheblockchain,andtheusesofthetokenizedasset. canbecategorizedinvariousways:off-chainvs.on-chain,tangiblevs.intangible,etc.9Off-chainreferenceassetscanbephysical(e.g.realestateandcommodities)orintangible(e.g.intellectualpropertyrightsandtraditionalfinanc