Thread by @xrpartisan, 1/16 You've probably heard about the coming tokenization of assets. But what [...]

1/16 You've probably heard about the coming tokenization of assets. But what exactly is that, and what does it mean for the future (and price) of XRP?

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A thread.

2/16 Imagine that a famous painting (say, Van Gogh's "The Starry Night") was cut up into little squares and each square was sold off. Like expensive baseball cards, people could trade/buy favorite pieces and set prices for each piece. Every famous painting becomes its own market.

3/16 That's what it means to tokenize an asset, except you don't literally cut the painting into pieces! Rather, you could divide it into "squares" (tokens). Unlike other digital assets, these tokens aren't fungible (they don't all have to have the same price/value).

4/16 The benefit of non-fungible tokenization of assets is huge. For instance, consider if a hotel was tokenized. Unlike stock shares that have the same cost and rise/fall together, the tokens that made up the rooms with the best view/location would have more value.

5/16 This opens up a world of investment to "the little guy" that hasn't existed before. You probably can't afford a famous painting, but maybe you can afford a small square of one that grows in value. Maybe that hotel's stock price is too high, but not the sea-side view token.

6/16 Tokenization also provides unprecedented governance models. As a token holder you could vote on how the asset is handled/stored/improved/changed. You can make those votes yourself or assign your votes to a trusted third party. No single entity controls the governance.

7/16 This model also greatly improves liquidity. Only a small number of buyers can afford a Van Gogh, but a tokenized painting would have a huge pool of potential buyers. So if you wanted/needed to sell, you wouldn't have to spend months/years to find a qualified buyer.

8/16 Liquidity also improves because access becomes global. It's all digital, so anyone with a device and an app can buy or sell the tokens. These apps would KYC/AML and provide access to multiple assets, helping to prevent fraud while creating a larger marketplace.

9/16 There's also the improved incentive of instant ownership. Within seconds of clicking "buy"/"sell" ownership (or your payment) is transferred to you. This additional improvement in liquidity makes the investment "safer" for people who want quick access to funds if needed.

10/16 Because liquidity opens up, the potential for gains improves exponentially. Just like company stock is often traded for many times more than the profit of the underlying company, so will any tokenized asset by accessing pent-up demand that is currently inaccessible.

11/16 There's also transparency benefits. Tokens being on an open, public blockchain allow all parties to verify that no "funny business" is going on with the asset. Can that claim be made of ANY IPO'd business? No, which is why big players often win and small players lose.

12/16 Also consider scalability and efficiency. With smart contracts fewer (if any) employees are required to manage an asset, which means lower fees/less loss of potential gains over time. This efficiency allows for tokenization of assets that otherwise wouldn't be "worth it".

13/16 The open-source nature of the blockchain also makes it inexpensive and easy to tokenize and launch new assets. You no longer need a multi-billion $ IPO. Assets worth much less can easily be opened up to a large pool of investors, no big banks/high fees required.

14/16 All of this is exciting and really sparks the imagination, but what does it mean for XRP? Well remember, the XRP Ledger is designed to transact *any asset*, not just digital currency. Whether it's currency, votes or tokenized artwork and hotels, the XRPL can handle it.

15/16 As more assets get tokenized and the XRP Ledger is used for the management of those assets, liquidity (in the form of XRP) will be required. That requires XRP's price to rise, which benefits current XRP holders. The market potential for tokenized assets is massive!

16/16 SUMMARY: Tokenization of assets is the future of asset investing. It unlocks inaccessible markets and greatly improves liquidity. The blockchain provides security, efficiency and transparency. XRPL is designed to handle such assets, which increases potential XRP value.