Hello readers,

Happy New Year, and welcome back for 2026. I hope everyone had a wonderful and restful holiday season.

While I was off (from writing) for a few weeks, the reading and learning didn’t stop. Now it’s time to get back to work. I hope you’re as fired up as I am for an exciting year ahead. Apologies in advance for the long intro.

To begin, my framing for 2026 is this: we are now entering a tokenization supercyle that will redefine how we own and trade assets.

I also hold a strong conviction that ALL of finance and global commerce will one day run completely on blockchains - which makes it impossible to ignore how significant this will be for the world’s largest asset class.

The infrastructure is consolidating faster than most developers and asset owners exploring real estate tokenization realize.

This week’s ReFi Brief will give you evidence of vertically integrated platforms emerging in both Singapore and the US, while regulators and major banks signal readiness for 2026.

The question is, will your structuring and custody choices be compatible with these distribution channels when they activate?

Without further ado, let’s hop into the first brief of 2026.

In this weeks ReFi Brief:

• The Big Read: Why Tokenizing Franchise Rights Could Unlock Pre-Construction Capital

• NANT consolidates US issuance-to-trading stack

• SEC Innovation Exemption Expected to Launch

• Morgan Stanley plans tokenized asset wallet

THE BIG READ

Why Tokenizing Franchise Rights Could Unlock Pre-Construction Capital

Singapore-regulated infrastructure provider Chintai Network Services and the Maluku Archipelago Joint Venture (a collaboration between Canada’s DeepGreenX Group (DGX) and Forest First International (FFI)) have announced a strategic partnership to tokenize development rights across 1,000 islands in Eastern Indonesia - one of world’s larger resource development and related infrastructure projects

The headline figure is $28 billion; the structure is a 60-year franchise agreement covering sustainable tourism, tidal power, and carbon credit revenues.

For developers holding long-term land banks, options, or concession agreements, this deal offers a template for monetizing future cash flows before vertical construction begins.

Let’s take a closer look.