IMF says tokenized repos average $300 billion to $350 billion a day

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IMF says tokenized repos average $300 billion to $350 billion a day

The fund sees real efficiency gains in on-chain repo markets but warns the sector is small, fragmented and short on legal clarity

by
Kaye Quema

Oct. 8, 2026

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IMF seal (Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

Tokenized repurchase agreements now average between $300 billion and $350 billion in daily volume, according to the International Monetary Fund. That figure comes from the IMF’s Global Financial Stability Report, released on October 8, 2026.

The fund is not breaking out the champagne, though. Alongside the big number, it says the tokenized market remains small, fragmented, and in need of clearer laws before it can grow safely.

What the IMF actually found

A repo is a short-term loan dressed up as a sale. One party sells securities and agrees to buy them back later at a slightly higher price, which makes the deal effectively a collateralized loan.

Tokenizing that process means recording the collateral and the agreement on a digital ledger instead of shuffling paperwork between back offices. The IMF’s daily average for these on-chain deals sits in the $300 billion to $350 billion range.

Some metrics run even hotter. One 30-day moving average for tokenized repo volumes is close to approximately $371 billion.

Specific platforms back up the scale. The Canton Network reported processing approximately $350 billion in daily repo volumes.

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Broadridge’s Distributed Ledger Repo platform reported average daily volumes of $365 billion in July 2026. That added up to $8 trillion for the month.

Big numbers, bigger pond

Those totals sound enormous until you hold them next to traditional repo markets. The US repo market had approximately $4.6 trillion outstanding as of January 2026.

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Daily US repo activity is cited at around $13 trillion in some analyses.

The wider tokenized asset market tells a similar story. Tokenized real-world assets, excluding repos and stablecoins, were valued at approximately $65 billion as of July 2026.

Bonds and money market funds make up roughly $48 billion of that total. Tokenized equities trail far behind at approximately $2.3 billion.

One detail stands out on the equity side. More than half of some tokenized equity trading happens outside regular market hours.

Why the IMF likes it, and why it worries

The fund points to several efficiency gains from tokenization. The headline benefit is atomic settlement, where both sides of a trade complete at the same instant or not at all.

The IMF also highlights 24/7 operations and less dependence on intermediaries.

Then come the warnings. The report flags heightened liquidity strains, potential leverage built through collateral reuse, and automated liquidations.

Each of those could feed systemic contagion during periods of stress, the IMF cautions.

The regulatory ask

The IMF’s prescription is a technology-neutral regulatory framework. In plain terms, rules should apply to what an asset does, not whether it lives on a blockchain or in a legacy database.

The fund wants equal treatment across asset types. It also stresses legal clarity for tokenized assets and standardization so platforms can interoperate.

The report’s timing also lines up with events hosted by the Bank of Korea.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Kaye Quema. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.