Asset Tokenization: An Exploration Through the Lens of Extant Theory

Sumar, Aly-khaan

Asset Tokenization: An Exploration Through the Lens of Extant Theory

dc.contributor.advisor	Verbeke, Alain CM
dc.contributor.advisor	Kano, Elena (Liena) Lvovna
dc.contributor.author	Sumar, Aly-khaan
dc.contributor.committeemember	Li, Pengfei
dc.contributor.committeemember	Schulz, Robert Adolph
dc.date	2025-02
dc.date.accessioned	2025-01-14T16:07:00Z
dc.date.available	2025-01-14T16:07:00Z
dc.date.issued	2025-01-09
dc.description.abstract	Blockchain and its related uses as a foundation for a new internet—and, by extension, a new financial system—have garnered much attention in current media and extant literature. This dissertation will explore tokenization, an application of blockchain technology, which aims to create a digital version of an asset on a blockchain, one that can be owned digitally on a digital asset network. The extolled benefits of tokenization are examined through the lens of transaction cost theory (TCT), comprised of transaction cost economics (TCE), transaction cost internalization (TCI) and bounded reliability (BRel) Initial implementations of tokenized asset offerings reflect a technology in a nascent form, but on a trajectory of growth. The evolution of the internet exemplifies how this might unfold, from a medium where users passively consumed written or visual content (web 1.0) to a platform that users participate in and interact with (web 2.0), to an anticipated next stage (web 3.0) that incorporates digital asset networks and becomes a source of data for both people and machines. Ideally, this will democratize the internet, including decentralized, democratized ownership of blockchain native applications. The tokenization of both current real-world assets and digitally native assets is intended to increase access, reduce transactional friction, and enable improved price discovery for assets to ultimately foster a more inclusive financial system. The current immaturity of blockchain technology limits the capacity of tokenization to reduce asset specificity, bounded rationality, and bounded reliability, resulting in little improvement in the efficiency of transactions versus existing alternatives. The findings of this doctoral research bring to the forefront two key expectations related to adopting blockchain-based tokenization. First, the current digital asset ecosystem is an innovation incubator for the traditional financial system (TradFi). As the ecosystem matures, it will be strategically adopted in a piecemeal fashion, bolstering the efficiencies in the current financial system rather than disrupting the current financial system intermediaries. Second, it will be necessary to reduce asset specificity, bounded rationality challenges from intermediaries, and bounded reliability challenges from implementing the blockchain-based technology for successful adoption.
dc.identifier.citation	Sumar, A. (2025). Asset tokenization: an exploration through the lens of extant theory (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/1880/120421
dc.language.iso	en
dc.publisher.faculty	Graduate Studies
dc.publisher.institution	University of Calgary
dc.rights	University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.subject	Blockchain
dc.subject	Asset Tokenization
dc.subject	Transaction Cost Economics
dc.subject	Bounded Reliability
dc.subject	Distributed Ledger
dc.subject	web3
dc.subject	Banking
dc.subject	Financial Services
dc.subject	Tokenization
dc.subject	Decentralized Finance
dc.subject.classification	Education--Finance
dc.subject.classification	Education--Technology
dc.subject.classification	Banking
dc.subject.classification	Economics--Commerce-Business
dc.title	Asset Tokenization: An Exploration Through the Lens of Extant Theory
dc.type	doctoral thesis
thesis.degree.discipline	Business, Haskayne School of Business
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Calgary
thesis.degree.name	Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)
ucalgary.thesis.accesssetbystudent	I do not require a thesis withhold – my thesis will have open access and can be viewed and downloaded publicly as soon as possible.