Lawyers are being asked to structure tokenised assets, but where do you even begin?
Lawyers are being asked to structure tokenised assets, but where do you even begin? Delighted to share that our paper, "Structuring Real-World Asset Tokenisation: A Lifecycle Framework for Corporate Lawyers", co-authored with Prof. Christoph Kletzer and Dr. Ci Ren, has been accepted in The International Lawyer (Vol. 60), the official journal of the American Bar Association International Law Section. On-chain tokenised real-world assets now exceed $26 billion, nearly quadrupling year-over-year. The technology is moving. The legal frameworks are struggling to keep up. We treat RWA tokenisation as an ongoing legal infrastructure project. Our lifecycle framework guides corporate lawyers through five stages: initiation, structuring, issuance, operation, and liquidation. It draws on case studies from energy, infrastructure, and agriculture, and surveys approaches in the US, Hong Kong, Singapore, and UAE. Our central argument: long-term viability depends more on legal and regulatory stability than on technological scalability. Corporate lawyers are not just advisers here. They are architects. Grateful to Prof. marc steinberg and our Law, Technology, and Finance colleagues from The Dickson Poon School of Law, King's College London and friends from all over the world for supporting this research. Dan Hunter Dr Trevor Clark Anat Keller Aleksandra Jordanoska Sylvie Delacroix Petros Terzis John Zerilli Douglas Arner Michael Meissner, PhD, LLM Jiujing Ye Gaojue Liang Martin Bengtzen Michael Schillig Oktavia Weidmann Phillip Johnson Dr Eleni (Lena) Magklasi Shitij Kapur Rachel Mills CBE Shunqi Yang Crawford Spence Rhys Bidder Damian Grimshaw Ilias Ioannou Dr. Ningyao (Chris) Ye Yuxiang Zhou Dalvinder Singh Dr. Avv. Daniele D'Alvia Felix Steffek Karina Patrício Ferreira Lima Clara Martins Pereira Robin Hui Huang #RealWorldAssets #Tokenisation #CorporateLaw #Blockchain #KCLLaw #ABA #Fintech
➤ A new paper proposes a lifecycle framework for corporate lawyers to structure tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), addressing the gap between rapidly advancing technology and lagging legal frameworks. ➤ The framework guides lawyers through five stages: initiation, structuring, issuance, operation, and liquidation, drawing on case studies and surveying approaches in the US, Hong Kong, Singapore, and UAE. ➤ The research emphasizes that long-term viability of RWA tokenization hinges more on legal and regulatory stability than technological scalability, positioning lawyers as crucial architects in the process.