Home / What we do / Capital formation
Capital formation
Tokenization across the asset development lifecycle.
The most common structural error in real-asset tokenization is a single large issuance against an undeveloped asset. Capital should arrive in stages, priced against the risk that has actually been retired.
The liquidity ladder
Match the instrument to the risk that has actually been retired.
Select a stage. Figures are illustrative of scale and sequencing, not an offer or a forecast for any specific project.
Stage 01 — Early development
Feasibility, resource studies, early engineering and permitting. Risk is at its maximum and almost nothing has been retired.
Instruments in play
- Strategic and sovereign anchor capital
- Corporate or partner equity
- A small, clearly disclosed speculative tranche where appropriate
Illustrative scale: US$100–300 million. Purpose: feasibility, resource studies, FEED.
Tokenized instruments have a limited role here. Early capital should come from parties able to price geological and political risk directly.
Stage 02 — Post-certification
Independent certification has established a reserve or resource position. The asset now has a defensible economic basis.
Instruments in play
- Reserve-linked financing against certified economics
- Development convertibles converting at FID
- Institutional private placement
Illustrative scale: US$500 million–1.5 billion.
The first point at which a tokenized instrument can be marketed to institutions on a documented valuation rather than a projection.
Stage 03 — Post-offtake
Signed offtake agreements convert a production forecast into contracted revenue with an identifiable counterparty.
Instruments in play
- Prepaid offtake financing
- Contracted revenue participation
- Cheaper senior instruments as counterparty credit substitutes for project risk
Illustrative scale: US$2 billion and above, at a materially lower cost of capital.
This is the single largest de-risking event in the sequence, and the point at which the cost of capital moves most.
Stage 04 — Construction
EPC contracted, financing closed, capital deploying against a construction schedule.
Instruments in play
- Tokenized infrastructure debt — digital project bonds
- Senior and mezzanine tranching
- Export credit and bank debt alongside the tokenized tranche
Illustrative scale: a tokenized tranche of US$500 million within a US$3 billion terminal debt package.
Institutionally the most attractive phase for a tokenized instrument: defined coupon, defined maturity, a security package and a construction contractor.
Stage 05 — Operations
The asset is producing. Cash flow is observable and instruments can be valued on performance rather than forecast.
Instruments in play
- Cash-flow instruments and refinancing
- Secondary liquidity on regulated venues where available
- Treasury and reserve deployment of proceeds
Secondary market activity, subject to venue availability and instrument eligibility.
Liquidity is a function of instrument design, venue access and market-maker support — not an automatic property of tokenization.
Worked example
An illustrative US$12 billion capital stack.
How a sovereign-scale LNG project might be financed in sequence. Illustrative only.
This example is a structuring illustration used to show sequencing and instrument fit. It does not describe an actual project, mandate or transaction, and no such transaction is being offered.
| Phase | Source | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Sovereign and strategic partner equity | US$1.0bn |
| 02 | Reserve-backed token issuance | US$1.5bn |
| 03 | Offtake pre-financing | US$2.0bn |
| 04 | Bank debt and export credit agencies | US$5.0bn |
| 05 | Tokenized infrastructure debt | US$2.5bn |
| Total capital | US$12.0bn |
Investor logic
Why capital comes in early.
Early investors are not doing anyone a favour. They are buying a risk premium, and the structure has to pay for it explicitly rather than pretend the risk is not there.
- Risk premium
Return expectations that reflect pre-certification or pre-FID exposure.
- Preferential economics
Seniority, preferred returns or first claim on defined cash flows.
- Discounted conversion
Conversion into later-stage instruments at a discount to the de-risked valuation.
- Revenue participation
Royalty-style economics that begin at first production rather than at exit.
- Tradability
Exit optionality, where instrument design and venue access genuinely support it.
The art is structuring the right asset, at the right project phase, for the right investor risk appetite.
Tokenbridge Global — capital formationTest a capital stack against the ladder.
We are happy to sit with your project team, your bank or your ministry and work through sequencing before anyone drafts a term sheet.