OCB Reference/Ownership
Is ownership of tokenized treasuries actually decentralized?
Tokenized funds live on public blockchains — but that doesn't make them widely owned. For the largest tokenized treasuries, a handful of wallets hold most of the supply. Here's how to see it.
OnChain Benchmark · Reference · figures update live
Mostly, no — not yet. Being on a public blockchain makes ownership visible, but the largest tokenized treasury funds are held tightly: the ten biggest wallets often hold the large majority of the supply, and sometimes effectively all of it. That's the normal shape of a young institutional market finding its first large allocators — but it means "onchain" and "decentralized" are not the same thing, and concentration is a real factor to weigh.
It's tempting to assume that because a fund is tokenized and trades on a public blockchain, its ownership is broadly distributed. Onchain measurement says otherwise. The ledger is public, so for the first time you can count exactly how much of a fund sits in its largest wallets — and for the biggest tokenized treasuries, that share is high.
How concentrated is it, in numbers?
The standard measure is the share of a fund's supply held by its ten largest wallets, measured against 100% of holders (with the issuer's own protocol addresses excluded, so it reflects genuine third-party ownership). These are current reads for a few funds:
Share held by the 10 largest wallets · protocol addresses excluded · primary chain
The contrast is the point. Broadly-held tokens (tokenized gold is a useful reference) sit far lower; the wholesale-held treasury funds sit far higher. A high number isn't an accusation — it's the signature of a market whose first holders are large institutions, not retail.
Why does concentration matter to a holder?
Two reasons. First, liquidity: a market becomes tradable when many owners can trade with each other — if a fund is held by a few wallets, there's barely anyone to trade with. Second, single-holder risk: when one wallet holds a large share, that participant's decision to exit is visible and can move the whole market. Neither is a verdict on the fund's quality; both are things you should know before holding it.
How is this measured, and can I trust the number?
The figure is read directly from onchain holder data against the fund's full supply, not a sample of it, and the issuer's own custody and protocol wallets are excluded so the number reflects real third-party concentration. It's one of the four dimensions in each fund's trust score.
- How concentrated is ownership of tokenized treasuries?
- For the largest tokenized treasury funds, the ten biggest wallets hold most of the onchain supply — sometimes effectively all of it — measured against 100% of holders with the issuer's own addresses excluded. Broadly-held tokens like tokenized gold are far more dispersed.
- Is onchain RWA ownership decentralized?
- Being on a public blockchain makes ownership transparent, not distributed. Most large tokenized treasuries are held by a small set of institutions today — the normal early shape of an institutional market, but not the same as decentralized ownership.
- Why does holder concentration matter?
- High concentration means thinner liquidity (few owners to trade with) and single-holder risk (one large wallet's exit can move the market). It doesn't make a fund bad, but it's a real factor to weigh, and it's directly measurable onchain.
- How is holder concentration measured?
- As the share of a fund's supply held by its ten largest wallets, computed against the full holder set — not a sample — with the issuer's own protocol and custody addresses excluded so the figure reflects genuine third-party ownership.
- Which tokenized assets are most widely held?
- Broadly-distributed tokens — tokenized gold is a common example — sit far lower on the concentration measure than the largest tokenized treasury funds, which tend to be held wholesale by a handful of institutions.
Last reviewed Jul 24, 2026 · figures read live