Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis has found that Italy, Portugal and Singapore account for 66.9% of tokenized U.S. Treasury holdings with identifiable geographic locations, while the United States represents just 10.5% of the recorded value.
Summary
- Italy, Portugal and Singapore account for 66.9% of tokenized Treasury value with identifiable holder locations.
- U.S. investors account for 10.5% of geolocated tokenized Treasury holdings, placing the country fourth globally.
- Japan represents 16.4% of identified holders but controls just 0.4% of the recorded asset value.
- Tokenized U.S. Treasury assets grew 125% to $15.42 billion during the year ending July 2026.
- Chainalysis says tokenization gives overseas investors access to Treasury products without U.S. brokerage accounts.
In its October 14 report, North America: Inside the Growth of Agentic Commerce, Chainalysis examined how American financial products are reaching investors through blockchain networks, with tokenized government debt emerging as the largest category of real-world assets.
The research found that tokenized U.S. Treasury assets reached $15.42 billion in the year ending July 1, 2026, compared with $6.86 billion a year earlier. The 125% increase came as overseas investors gained access to Treasury-backed products without necessarily opening traditional U.S. brokerage accounts.
However, the geographic percentages cover holdings where Chainalysis could identify the location of the holder. They do not describe the ownership distribution of every tokenized Treasury asset in circulation.
Overseas investors hold most geolocated U.S. Treasury tokens
Italy leads the geographic ranking, accounting for 29.9% of the total value held by investors whose locations could be identified.
Portugal follows with 18.8%, while Singapore accounts for 18.2%. Their combined 66.9% share places the three countries well ahead of the United States, which ranks fourth at 10.5%.
According to Chainalysis, the figures show how blockchain-based Treasury products have attracted investors outside the country issuing the underlying debt. The research separates the value of holdings from the number of people holding tokens. Its figures show that large positions are concentrated among a smaller group of overseas investors.
Japan provides the clearest example of the difference. Japanese investors account for 16.4% of identified tokenized Treasury holders, giving the country the largest share by holder count. However, their combined holdings represent just 0.4% of the total geolocated value.
Chainalysis interprets the difference as evidence that many Japanese investors hold relatively small positions, while fewer investors in other countries control larger amounts. The report does not identify individual holders behind the largest balances or publish a country-by-country breakdown of the institutions responsible for them. It similarly does not establish that Italy, Portugal and Singapore account for the same share of the entire global Treasury token market, including addresses with unknown locations.
Tokenized U.S. Treasury market grows 125% to $15.42B
Beyond the geographic findings, Chainalysis identified U.S. government debt as the largest category of tokenized real-world assets during its 2026 reporting period.
The market grew from $6.86 billion to $15.42 billion over the 12 months ending July 1, 2026, adding $8.56 billion in tokenized Treasury value. Based on those reported figures, the increase works out to approximately 124.8%, consistent with the company’s rounded growth estimate of 125%. Tokenized Treasury products represented 42.8% of the $36.07 billion real-world asset market measured in the report.
The research found that the overall tokenization market had grown 135% by the end of the second quarter of 2026. Corporate credit and private equity recorded faster percentage growth than Treasuries, although they started from smaller amounts.
Corporate credit grew 3,156%, while private equity rose 1,340%, according to the report. For comparison, tokenized Treasury products were already a large part of the market before the latest annual growth period.
In May, crypto.news previously reported that tokenized real-world assets reached approximately $34 billion, with U.S. government debt accounting for roughly $15 billion. Ethereum hosted around 60% of the reported tokenized asset value at that time.
Another Treasury market record in May placed the sector at $15.35 billion, according to RWA.xyz data cited in the coverage.
The earlier figures and Chainalysis’s July measurement come from different reporting dates and datasets. Their values should not be treated as directly comparable daily readings without accounting for differences in methodology.
Chainalysis says tokenization makes U.S. debt easier to access
The report attributes part of the overseas demand to the way tokenized products change access to traditional financial instruments. Through blockchain-based investment products, some investors can obtain exposure to U.S. Treasury securities without establishing a conventional American brokerage relationship. Chainalysis identified smaller minimum investment amounts as another feature allowing individuals to access assets that have traditionally served institutional markets.
A tokenized Treasury product generally represents an interest in an investment vehicle holding government debt or related instruments. The token is not necessarily a Treasury security issued directly by the U.S. government.
The exact ownership rights, redemption arrangements and investment requirements depend on the issuer and the legal structure of the product. In its research, Chainalysis described how individuals in cities such as Lisbon and Singapore can gain access to Treasury-backed investments through blockchain products.
The company connected these purchases to demand for U.S. government debt, since the underlying investment products allocate capital to dollar-denominated assets.
Meanwhile, the report distinguished tokenized Treasuries from dollar-backed stablecoins, even though both can create demand for U.S. government securities.
Stablecoin issuers commonly hold short-term Treasuries among their reserve assets. Investors holding tokenized Treasury funds, however, generally gain exposure to the investment product itself under the issuer’s terms. Financial institutions are working on more ways to issue and settle traditional assets using blockchain networks.
Earlier this year, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation formed a tokenization working group with participants including Ondo Finance, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan to examine standards for tokenized U.S. financial markets.
Treasury holders use tokens less often as loan collateral
Chainalysis examined how holders use tokenized assets in lending markets, identifying a difference between U.S. Treasury products and other forms of tokenized credit.
Wallets lending against private credit assets grew 1,618% during the reporting period. The company said private credit accounted for 77% of the total value lent against tokenized real-world assets.
Commodity-backed lending recorded growth of 875%. Tokenized Treasury lending moved in the opposite direction, contracting 23% during the same period.
Chainalysis attributed the difference to the existing financial uses of government securities, which already serve as highly liquid collateral in conventional markets. Private credit investments are generally harder to sell quickly, giving blockchain-based collateral arrangements a different role for holders of those assets.
The analytics firm characterized tokenized Treasury activity as more heavily focused on buying and holding securities than on using them in decentralized lending arrangements.
Its research covered observable public blockchain activity. The report acknowledged that tokenized securities and settlement systems operating on private networks, including Canton, are not fully represented in its on-chain holder counts.
In comments included in the report, tokenization firm Securitize said financial institutions are building systems that combine digital assets with existing custody, compliance and settlement arrangements.
Chainalysis’s separate geographic comparison across all tokenized real-world assets found that U.S. holders represented 11.7% of identified holders and controlled 11.4% of their value, a much closer balance than the figures recorded for Treasury products.
