The Philippine Digital Asset Exchange (PDAX) has introduced Project Bayani, an initiative to convert traditional assets into tokens and build a tokenized marketplace valued at $60.000M by 2030. The objective is to expand access to public stocks, government bonds and mutual funds through blockchain rails, with a potential impact on liquidity and inclusion across the Philippine market.
A “tokenized-first” model aimed at real-world assets
Project Bayani — named after the Filipino word for “hero” — promotes a tokenized-first strategy that brings traditional instruments onto distributed ledgers to enable fractionalization and transferable on-chain records. The platform seeks to bridge conventional markets with blockchain-based issuance and custody by digitizing listed stocks, sovereign bonds and mutual funds under a regulated virtual asset service provider established in 2018.
Funding momentum includes a $50 M Series B round led by Tiger Global, framed as capital to execute and scale tokenization efforts. PDAX argues that tokenization could lower barriers for retail investors, enhance auditability and support broader participation across primary and secondary markets.
The initiative is positioned within a global shift in tokenized finance, compared with efforts like Singapore’s Project Guardian and Dubai’s real-estate pilots, aligning PDAX with emerging international practices and regulated RWA experimentation.
PDAX emphasizes that clear regulation is necessary to protect investors and enable liquidity and cross-border recognition, noting that progress toward the $60.000 M goal depends on legal certainty around digital ownership and market conduct.
Scalability and infrastructure resilience are highlighted as core requirements to support high throughput and secure custody, as blockchain alone cannot guarantee operational performance. Mass-market education is also flagged as essential to build user trust, deepen liquidity and strengthen adoption.
From a financial perspective, long-term growth will require stable market conditions, risk-managed operations and counterparty safeguards capable of supporting scale. Technical success also hinges on interoperability and alignment of international standards, enabling efficient token flows and cross-market compatibility.
Project Bayani outlines an ambitious path toward nationwide asset tokenization backed by institutional capital, with its trajectory ultimately dependent on regulation, technology execution and user engagement leading up to 2030.