Starwood founder Barry Sternlicht: Ready to advance asset tokenization, but constrained by U.S. regulations

Real estate billionaire and founder of Starwood Capital Group, Barry Sternlicht, stated that the company is ready to tokenize real-world assets (RWA) such as real estate on the blockchain, but is currently unable to advance related plans due to regulatory restrictions in the United States. Starwood manages assets totaling over $125 billion.

Sternlicht pointed out at the World Liberty Forum that asset tokenization could create new financing methods for less liquid assets like real estate and allow investors to participate in investments more conveniently. He described this technology as a "future trend" and believes its development stage is even ahead of artificial intelligence. Industry reports indicate that Deloitte expects the global tokenized real estate market could reach $4 trillion by 2035, a significant increase from less than $300 billion in 2024, implying a compound annual growth rate of about 27%. Sternlicht called for further clarification of the regulatory environment to unlock the potential for asset tokenization.