Tokenisation offers common ledger for real-world assets, says Edul Patel

Mudrex CEO Edul Patel says tokenisation could improve liquidity, transparency and access to real-world assets through a common digital ledger, but regulatory safeguards remain crucial.

Tokenisation, the idea of recording real-world assets such as bonds, real estate and gold on a shared digital ledger, is fast emerging as one of the most talked-about shifts in finance, with the promise of making investments more accessible, liquid and cheaper. In a conversation with Ajinkya Kawale at the Business Standard BFSI Insight Summit 2026 Smart Investor Arena, Edul Patel, cofounder and chief executive officer of Mudrex, talks about what tokenisation means for Indian investors, where the opportunity lies, and the role regulators will play in building trust. Edited excerpts:

 

How would you explain tokenisation to investors?

 

Before we talk about what tokenisation is, the underlying difference is this: We are saying that these financial assets will be logged, made available, traded and transacted on a new technology infrastructure that is decentralised, and as a result more accessible, and available on a platform that is cheaper and easier to offer. I can start off with some examples of what this means. Today, most of the bond offerings that people get access to in the debt markets are secondary offerings. Primary issuance is very limited, and the secondary market lacks liquidity. As a result, all the newer, younger platforms that come in are effectively resellers of those bonds. That reduces liquidity, because the same bond is being sold in different places and effectively multiple markets are being maintained. So there is no liquidity, there is no transparency in pricing, and accessibility to the same bond also goes away. The promise of tokenisation is that all of this coordination, where different sellers are selling can happen on a single common ledger, just like how equities in the country get traded on a common, single ledger in the format of an exchange.  

 

 

At what point would investors be able to transact using tokenised assets?

 

The time frames for different asset classes vary. Tokenisation now enables us to divide our wealth across non-correlated asset classes, offering greater protection and security through portfolio diversification. That’s fundamentally why you should invest across a wide set of asset classes. Otherwise, your portfolio becomes too concentrated. In an increasingly chaotic world, it is better to have more hedges. That’s the background driving all of this. Some formats of these assets are already available. Today, you can’t do tokenised real estate or tokenised Indian equities because the regulatory pathway is still evolving.

 

How important is the element of trust when it comes to tokenised assets?

 

In India, trust in an asset comes from the regulatory umbrella and the regulatory coverage around it. People don’t trust buying land from someone until they’ve done a year-long study of every ownership transfer in its history. This is going to be no different, so the regulatory and enforcement infrastructure around it is important. I believe our regulators are among the finest in the world, because they constantly have to balance opening up access to new-age infrastructure with making sure nothing goes wrong for India’s mass populace. It’s up to builders to help drive the conversation.