Starwood Founder Barry Sternlicht: Ready to Advance Asset Tokenization, But Constrained by US Regulations

Odaily News Real estate billionaire and Starwood Capital Group founder Barry Sternlicht stated that the company is prepared to tokenize real-world assets (RWA) such as real estate on the blockchain, but due to US regulatory constraints, it is currently unable to advance related plans. Starwood manages assets exceeding $125 billion. Sternlicht pointed out at the World Liberty Forum that asset tokenization could create new financing methods for less liquid assets like real estate and allow investors to participate in investments more conveniently. He called this technology a "future trend" and believes its development stage is even earlier than that of artificial intelligence. Industry reports show that Deloitte expects the global tokenized real estate market to potentially reach $4 trillion by 2035, a significant increase from less than $300 billion in 2024, implying a compound annual growth rate of approximately 27%. Sternlicht called for further clarity in the regulatory environment to unlock the potential of on-chain assets.