Enterprise-Grade Token Standards for RWA Tokenization — What Will Institutions Standardize On?

Real-world asset (RWA) tokenization is getting a lot of attention, but I’m curious about the infrastructure layer behind it.

For institutional adoption, it seems that simply creating an ERC-20 token isn’t enough. Tokenized securities, private credit, real estate, funds, and other RWAs may need features such as KYC/AML controls, permissioned transfers, investor whitelisting, transfer restrictions, freezing/unfreezing, forced transfers, corporate actions, and lifecycle management.

This raises an interesting question: what should an enterprise-grade token standard actually include?

Standards such as ERC-3643 and ERC-1400 take different approaches to regulated and permissioned assets. ERC-3643, for example, is designed around identity and compliance while still providing token functionality such as minting, burning, freezing, and controlled transfers.

From an institutional perspective, I see a few areas that seem particularly important:

• Compliance built into the token infrastructure rather than handled entirely off-chain

• Identity and wallet whitelisting

• Permissioned and controlled transfers

• Support for corporate actions and asset lifecycle events

• Interoperability with custody, banking, and compliance systems

• Privacy and confidentiality for sensitive investor information

• Cross-chain compatibility

• Clear linkage between the digital token and the underlying legal asset

I’m interested in hearing from people working in investment banking, private equity, asset management, fintech, blockchain infrastructure, or digital assets:

Do you think enterprise RWA tokenization will converge around a few dominant token standards, or will institutions continue using customized frameworks for different asset classes?

Also, for those who have worked on RWA projects, what has been the biggest challenge so far — technology, regulation, legal structuring, liquidity, interoperability, or institutional adoption?