Airbnb CEO Chesky says trust will decide which RWA projects survive

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky argued in a public thread on X that real-world asset (RWA) tokenization is coming, and that trust will separate the projects that last from those that fail. 

Chesky did not name any specific projects that he believes are building something of real value. He also didn’t drop any hints regarding Airbnb entering the sector. 

What did Brian Chesky say about trust?

The CEO of Airbnb, Brian Chesky, posted a thread on X saying he had been watching the real-world asset tokenization market “for a while now.” He dismissed most of the activity in the sector as “noise” but pointed out that something of real value was taking shape beneath it. However, Chesky offered no specifics on what that was. 

He described a future of “global, fractional, and instant ownership,” and said that trust would ultimately “separate the winners from the wreckage.” 

Industry executives have shared similar thoughts at conferences. Cryptopolitan reported that Bybit’s Global Head of TradFi and Real-World Assets Yoyee Wang told a panel at LEAP East 2026 that the deciding question for institutions is no longer whether blockchain works but whether they can trust the infrastructure underneath it. 

Wang argued that regulatory clarity, reliable infrastructure, and close work with financial institutions would determine which platforms are able to attract institutional investments over time.

Notably, Airbnb users sent in 4,000 feature requests back in 2022, and the most requested feature was for crypto payment support. However, Airbnb has never shipped native crypto payments.

How big is the real-world asset tokenization market?

Cryptopolitan reported that tokenized real-world assets are up 44% from roughly $45 billion at the start of the year, reaching about $65 billion. Ethereum holds about a third of that market. 

RWA.xyz put distributed real-world asset value at $34.08 billion and counted more than one million asset holders as of mid-July. Institutional products are also responsible for much of the growth. BlackRock’s (NYSE: BLK) tokenized Treasury fund, BUIDL, reached about $2.87 billion across supported networks. 

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao has separately urged governments to move their stock markets onto blockchains. His reasoning, Cryptopolitan reported, is that tokenized shares would allow 24/7 trading, faster settlement, and fractional ownership. 

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