Tokenization has spent years focused on one question: how much value can be brought on-chain?
That question is no longer enough.
As tokenized assets move from pilot programs to live financial infrastructure, a more important challenge is emerging: who or what will operate them?
During a recent X Space hosted by Taiko, Brickken CRO Ludovico Rossi joined Taiko COO Joaquin Mendes and Head of Ecosystems Piergiacomo Palmisani to discuss the next phase of digital asset markets: a future where AI agents interact directly with tokenized financial instruments.
The conversation explored the infrastructure, identity frameworks, compliance requirements, and operational models needed to make agent-driven capital markets possible.
One of the strongest themes throughout the discussion was that tokenization is entering a new stage of maturity.
For years, market participants measured progress through issuance volume. How many assets were tokenized? How much value was represented on-chain?
According to Joaquin Mendes, those metrics no longer tell the full story.
The next phase of growth will be measured by operational capacity: how much tokenized capital can actually be managed, utilized, and moved through financial workflows without requiring constant human intervention.
Creating a token is no longer the difficult part.
The challenge is creating infrastructure that allows those assets to participate in real financial activity, including compliance, payments, ownership transfers, servicing, reporting, and portfolio management.
The issue is not technological. It is structural.
Tokenized assets need infrastructure that supports their entire lifecycle, not just their issuance.
The discussion focused heavily on the emergence of agentic finance.
AI agents are rapidly evolving from analytical tools into autonomous operators capable of executing actions on behalf of institutions and users.
In capital markets, that means agents capable of:
But for that future to function, agents need more than access to blockchain networks.
They need identity.
They need authorization.
And they need compliance frameworks that define what actions they are allowed to perform.
Without those layers, autonomous financial activity cannot operate within regulated markets.
A key part of the conversation centered on the infrastructure required to allow AI agents to participate in financial markets safely.
This includes emerging standards such as RAMS (Regulated Agent Mandate Standard, ERC-8226), which seeks to establish clear permissioning and authorization models for autonomous agents.
The objective is straightforward:
An agent should not simply be able to execute actions.
It should be able to prove who it represents, what permissions it has been granted, and whether those actions comply with applicable requirements.
This becomes particularly important as tokenized assets expand into regulated sectors such as private credit, funds, corporate debt, and real estate.
For institutions, agent participation is not a question of automation alone.
It is a question of accountability.
The conversation also highlighted an important shift in how infrastructure providers think about tokenized assets.
Historically, most financial systems were designed around human workflows.
Applications assume a person will review documentation, approve transactions, complete onboarding processes, and manage operational tasks manually.
Agentic capital markets require a different model.
Infrastructure must be machine-readable, machine-executable, and capable of supporting automated workflows from end to end.
This is increasingly becoming a requirement for tokenization infrastructure itself.
A tokenized financial instrument should not only be capable of existing on-chain.
It should be capable of operating inside automated workflows while maintaining compliance controls, auditability, and institutional governance.
Another major topic was the role infrastructure design plays in institutional adoption.
Mendes emphasized that institutions evaluating digital asset infrastructure are not optimizing for speed alone.
They are optimizing for resilience, neutrality, and long-term reliability.
This is one of the reasons Taiko's Based Rollup architecture has become a central part of its positioning.
By leveraging Ethereum's validator set for sequencing rather than relying on centralized sequencers, the model reduces single points of failure and aligns more closely with Ethereum's security assumptions.
For institutions deploying long-term capital, infrastructure durability remains a foundational requirement.
Security, governance, and operational continuity matter as much as transaction throughput.
The discussion concluded with a broader look at how success should be measured as tokenized finance evolves.
Rather than focusing exclusively on Total Value Locked (TVL), participants highlighted metrics that better reflect operational maturity:
Settlement Finality for Real-World Assets
How quickly an on-chain transaction results in a legally recognized ownership transfer.
Autonomous Utilization Rate
The percentage of activity generated by authorized autonomous agents rather than human operators.
Yield Integrity
The ability to generate, transfer, and distribute yield across networks without compromising security, compliance, or operational performance.
These indicators move the conversation away from speculative activity and toward actual financial infrastructure performance.
The conversation reinforced a broader industry trend.
The future of tokenization is not defined by how many assets can be issued on-chain.
It is defined by how those assets can operate after issuance.
As AI agents become capable of executing increasingly sophisticated financial tasks, infrastructure providers face a new challenge: enabling autonomous participation without compromising compliance, security, or institutional controls.
The outcome is not a token.
It is a lifecycle-managed financial instrument connected to verifiable documentation, governed by compliance frameworks, and capable of participating in automated financial workflows.
That is the direction capital markets are moving.
And it is the infrastructure challenge the industry is now beginning to solve.
