The IMF recognizes the efficiency gains of tokenized markets, while warning of potentially greater instability than traditional markets due to automation and programmability.
Tokenization: Accelerator of Markets and Risks
The IMF acknowledges the promised efficiency gains of tokenized markets but warns that these new financial rails could become more unstable than traditional markets. A strong signal as tokenization transitions from experimentation to a macroeconomic concern.
The message is clear: programmability reduces intermediaries, speeds up transfers, and lowers costs. The initial work of the IMF already confirms substantial savings, facilitated by near-instant settlement and more efficient use of collateral.
But these benefits bring their own vulnerabilities. The IMF points out that automated trading has already caused spectacular flash crashes in conventional markets. Transposed to fully programmable architectures, this dynamic could intensify. With orders executed instantly, volatility could rise, and chain reactions could spread even faster.
In times of stress, the interaction between different stacked smart contracts could act like dominoes. A local error, bug, or liquidity imbalance could then turn into a systemic shock.
Fragmented Markets and Incompatible Infrastructures: A Real Danger
The IMF also warns of a structural risk: fragmentation. If multiple tokenized platforms develop without interoperability, liquidity disperses. A situation that goes against the very promise of tokenization, supposed to streamline and unify markets.
This fragmentation would further amplify volatility and complicate risk management for institutions. A scenario already evident in the current jungle of RWA, DeFi solutions, and specialized chains, where each ecosystem operates in isolation.
The IMF Promises that States Will Not Remain Spectators
The video makes it clear: governments have never let major monetary changes unfold without supervision. From Bretton Woods to the 1970s and the shift to fiat currencies, each major mutation has led to decisive state intervention.
According to the IMF, tokenization will follow the same path. The institution expects increased state involvement, either to regulate systemic risks or to impose their own programmable infrastructures, notably through central bank digital currencies.
A Market Already Valued at Several Billion
This stance comes as tokenization reaches a critical size. Blockchain-tokenized funds now exceed several tens of billions of dollars, with players like BlackRock’s BUIDL becoming global leaders in the segment, ahead of Franklin Templeton. The boom of 2024 and 2025 transformed a technical concept into an institutional market. The European leader, Amundi, has even announced the launch of a tokenized share of its monetary fund.
By releasing this video, the IMF sends a clear message: the future of programmable finance will not be built in a regulatory void. Markets can gain speed, cost-effectiveness, and efficiency. But they will have to contend with more oversight, more safeguards, and mechanisms of public intervention ready to act at the slightest sign of turbulence.
