Tokenization Use Cases [P1] - Fundraising: 3 Ways Tokens Are Changing How Projects and Funds Raise Capital
In this article, we explore how tokens are transforming fundraising by enabling broader access, faster execution, and new models of ownership and what real-world projects are doing.
This is the first entry in a multi-part series exploring real-world use cases of tokenization. While tokenization has been a buzzword across the Web3 space, the actual business functions it enhances are what truly matter. Each post in this series will cover one specific use case — and we begin with one of the most crucial: Fundraising.
Fundraising has always been the lifeblood of business. Whether you're a startup, a real estate developer, or a public institution, raising capital efficiently determines how fast you can build, scale, or deliver value. But traditional fundraising methods often come with steep entry barriers: complex paperwork, geographic limits, high minimums, and layers of intermediaries. In this article, we explore how tokens are transforming fundraising by enabling broader access, faster execution, and new models of ownership and what real-world projects are doing.
Fundraising in the RWA context refers to the use of blockchain tokens to raise capital from investors in exchange for claims on real-world economic value — including equity, debt, fund shares, or collective goals. The key is that the fundraising event happens in the primary market: the token issuance stage.
Let’s unpack the four ways tokenized fundraising is playing out.
1. Tokenized Equity: Ownership, Fractionalized
“Tokenized equity is turning private capital into a global, programmable marketplace.”
Equity has long been a go-to route for raising funds, but until recently, it was mainly limited to insiders or those who could write seven-figure checks. Tokenized equity flips that.
Tokenized equity offerings bring the age-old concept of selling shares into the blockchain era. Here, companies or projects raise capital by issuing tokens that represent equity stakes (ownership shares) in the venture. These tokens typically confer similar rights to traditional shares – such as dividends or voting – but are recorded on a blockchain, enabling features like automated compliance and potentially easier transferability (subject to regulations). In practice, tokenized equity sales resemble digital security token offerings (STOs), where investors (often accredited or KYC-verified) purchase tokens that are backed by stock or ownership units of a startup or asset.
Take Brickken, for instance. Barcelona-based Brickken provides a compliance-first, “tokenization-as-a-service” platform for businesses to tokenize equity, debt, and even revenue-sharing models. The idea is to let companies raise funds faster and more globally by issuing digital equity tokens to investors. To date, Brickken has tokenized over $300 million in assets across 14 countries. With built-in tools for legal compliance and investor management, companies can launch offerings "in days, not months."
Another example is Plural Finance, which specializes in tokenized equity for renewable energy projects. In March 2025, Plural launched a tokenized offering for a 20 MW solar microgrid in Texas, allowing accredited investors to buy tokens corresponding to preferred equity in the project's holding company. This highlights how tokenized equity can marry impact investing with fintech, channeling funds to clean energy by offering fractional equity to a global investor base.
2. Tokenized Debt: Bonds, Notes & On-Chain Loans
Debt fundraising is also getting the token treatment. In this model, companies or asset originators issue tokens that represent debt securities – for example, bonds, loans, or notes – to raise capital. Investors who buy these tokens are effectively lending money and expect repayment with interest, similar to buying a bond. Tokenization can make issuing and managing debt more efficient by automating interest payments via smart contracts and widening the investor base beyond traditional banks or local markets. Crucially, it also enables fractionalization, so even smaller investors can buy a slice of a large debt deal (which could be a bundle of loans or a large corporate bond) on-chain.
Mikro Kapital, a Luxembourg-based microfinance fund, raised $1 million in less than five days by tokenizing its debt offering on Ethereum via Brickken this May 2025. The tokens represented bond entitlements and automated interest payouts, all while supporting loans to small businesses in emerging markets. This rapid funding demonstrated how tokenization can unlock speed and reach for real-world debt, with the blockchain handling compliance and record-keeping.
Siemens AG, the German conglomerate, made headlines by issuing a €60 million tokenized one-year bond using Germany's new eSecurities law on Polygon. Direct settlement to investors, zero paperwork, and same-day delivery-vs-payment. A glimpse into how tokenization can compress weeks of coordination into minutes.
Beyond single corporate bonds, tokenization is also being applied to more complex debt structures. BlockTower Capital partnered with Centrifuge to issue a $220 million structured credit fund via tokenized collateralized loan obligations (CLOs). Centrifuge's platform allowed them to represent credit assets with NFTs, offering full transparency and real-time cash flow tracking. Each tranche was represented by NFTs tied to credit assets, offering transparent, real-time cash flow tracking. This approach cut securitization costs by an impressive 97%.
On-chain asset managers like Maple Finance have surpassed $2.3 billion in Total Value Locked (TVL) by mid-June 2025, with their High Yield Secured Lending product holding over $428 million in tokenized loan assets, representing over-collateralized loans to institutional borrowers. These pools let accredited USDC holders deploy capital and receive yield-bearing tokens.
In April 2021, the European Investment Bank (EIB) has similarly issued tokenized bonds on Ethereum (€100M in 2021 and another €100M in 2022) as trials, in collaboration with major banks. And Hong Kong's government not only issued a $100 million tokenized green bond in 2023 but expanded the program with a HK$6 billion (~ $770 million) tokenized bond in 2024, indicating confidence to scale up fundraising via blockchain.
3. Tokenized Fund Shares: The Mutual Fund, Upgraded
"It used to take $5M to enter a private fund. Now, it might take $10K and a digital wallet."
Beyond individual projects, the fund management industry is also being reshaped by tokenization. In this model, investment funds (such as venture funds, private equity funds, or even money market funds) issue tokens that represent shares or limited partner interests in the fund. This can dramatically lower the barriers to entry for investors – allowing smaller ticket sizes and global distribution – and potentially add liquidity to an otherwise illiquid asset class (since these tokens might trade on secondary markets or be redeemed periodically).
In 2022, Securitize made waves by partnering with KKR to tokenize part of its $4B Health Care Growth Fund II on Avalanche. This wasn’t just marketing – it brought a blue-chip Wall Street fund to the blockchain. While the tokenized portion was limited, its significance was large: it opened access to KKR's fund for investors who could meet a lower minimum via the Securitize platform, a fraction of KKR's usual multi-million dollar entry point.
In early 2023, Hamilton Lane followed up by tokenizing its Senior Credit Opportunities Fund (SCOPE II) on Ethereum, Polygon, and later Solana via the Libre platform. According to S&P Global, these moves were early indicators of a trend in tokenized private credit and equity funds aimed at fractionalizing exclusive investments for a broader base. Hamilton Lane has further cemented its pioneering role, partnering with Republic to offer tokenized funds to retail investors, slashing the minimum investment from millions of dollars to around $10,000 for accredited investors thanks to tokenization.
On the retail-facing side, Ondo Finance took a more retail-friendly route. Launched in Jan 2023, its OUSG token represents short-term U.S. Treasury exposure, allowing stablecoin holders to earn yield with a single click. Built on Ethereum, OUSG lets stablecoin holders invest in a low-risk yield from Treasuries by simply buying a token. The response underscored demand for on-chain yield: by mid-2025, OUSG grew to over $700 million in assets under management on Ethereum and has since become one of the largest tokenized Treasury products on-chain.
The appeal? Tokens reduce minimum investment sizes, speed up access, and allow broader participation — without compromising compliance.
Why It Matters: Efficiency, Access, and the Democratization of Capital
Tokenized fundraising isn’t just a tech upgrade. It’s a structural rethink of how capital is formed and deployed.
Global Reach: Anyone with a crypto wallet (and proper credentials) can participate.
Fractional Ownership: Smaller investors get access to assets previously gated.
Lower Costs: Reduced reliance on middlemen cuts fees and speeds up issuance.
Programmable Compliance: Smart contracts enforce who can hold or transfer a token.
Still, hurdles remain: regulatory uncertainty, market liquidity, and technical risks. Custody, legal clarity, and exchange infrastructure all need to evolve. But the shift is underway. Governments like Hong Kong are subsidizing tokenized bond issuance to catalyze adoption. The U.S. Senate passed the GENIUS Act, paving the way for stablecoin regulation. Major financial players are experimenting. And startups are raising faster and more flexibly than ever before.
We’re entering an era where a clean energy microgrid in Texas, a fintech startup in Barcelona, and a Wall Street fund can all raise capital using the same digital rails. For investors, that means access. For projects, that means speed.
And for the financial system? It might just mean a more inclusive, efficient future.
Stay tuned for the next part of our series, where we explore how tokenization is revolutionizing asset trading and liquidity.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational and research purposes only. DYOR!
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