Assetization becomes key topic at Davos 2024: Here’s what it means

The tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs) has become a hot topic in digital finance in 2023. Establishing an investable market out of illiquid assets through the use of blockchain technology has drawn attention from both traditional and decentralized finance chambers.

A BNY Mellon survey shows that 91% of institutional investors are interested in putting their money into tokenized assets, while another study by Boston Consulting Group expects the tokenization market to hit $16 trillion by 2030.

Along with asset tokenization , new concepts and ideas are built upon the key premise of offering investment opportunities for previously non-tradeable assets. Assetization is one of them, and this innovative idea found itself a stage at the AssetRush x Davos event in January.

AssetRush x Davos

Founded by Swiss-based B2B fintech company GenTwo, AssetRush has established itself as a series of premiere events in the Swiss financial landscape since 2018, hosting over 5,000 guests in ten editions in cities like Zurich and Geneva.

Bringing innovators and visionaries together with key investors, AssetRush doubles as a major networking hub aside from being a conference where new ideas and technologies are explored to shape the future of finance.

This year, AssetRush came to Davos for the first time on Jan. 18,  during the week of the World Economic Forum . The invite-only event presented the idea of ‘assetization’ to world leaders and key influencers from government, business and academia.

Assetization for asset democratization

Combining “asset” and “democratization,” assetization turns virtually anything or any idea into an investible asset. The concept has the potential to unlock a $78 trillion market of currently non-bankable assets, according to the namesake book penned by GenTwo co-founders Philippe A. Naegeli and Patrick Loepfe.

The launch of the Assetization book was a key highlight of the AssetRush x Davos. GenTwo co-founders had the opportunity to introduce the idea behind assetization to attendees during their stage time.

GenTwo chair and co-author of “Assetization,” Patrick Loepfe, explains the namesake concept at AssetRush x Davos. Source: AssetRush

GenTwo co-founder and CEO Philippe A. Naegeli, who has over 20 years of banking expertise, drew a comparison between the introduction of assetization and the standard shipping container. The latter completely revolutionized global trade and led to the explosion of globalization since the 1950s. “What containerization did for global shipping, assetization is doing for global investing,” Naegeli summarized.

Patrick Loepfe, GenTwo founder and chairman with a background in investment banking, pointed out that assetization is the perfect fit for the current global trend of democratization of financial products. Loepfe pointed out that non-bankable assets will become bankable through assetization.

Event highlights

Aside from the deep talks about assetization, AssetRush x Davos saw the launch of a new venture capital named Stack. Founded by Pete Casella, former founding partner of United States-based Point72 Ventures, Stack aims to present a modular platform for the financial ecosystem.

Speaking at the event, Casella said that the goal of a manager should not be to find startups. “It should be to identify unsolved problems and then find the companies solving them,” he underscored.

The event was the stage for ArtDeal CEO Sarah Schlagenhauf’s keynote about the future of e-commerce and Web3 . Attendees were also presented with two distinct investment ideas — maritime shipping and classic cars — by Pioneer Asset Management CEO Daniel Andonovski.

In a future where anything can become investable, investors will have no choice but to further diversify their portfolios. Through events connecting innovators to investors, AssetRush seeks to bring investment ideas of alternative, digital and traditional assets to the latter group while establishing an international gathering of ideas and opportunities.

Following the success of AssetRush x Davos in January, the next event, called AssetRush x Zurich, is scheduled for May 29 at the Kauflueten in Zurich, Switzerland.