Physical Assets at Digital Speed: Toto Finance in Finyear Magazine #2
We’re proud to be featured in Finyear Magazine #2 – dedicated entirely to one of the most significant shifts happening in global finance right now: the tokenisation of real-world assets.
The Bigger Picture
We’re no longer talking about speculative crypto. The conversation has moved to stocks, bonds, real estate, commodities, music rights – all recorded on blockchain. BCG and Ripple estimate this market will grow from $600 billion to nearly $19 trillion by 2033.
Tokenisation is entering its operational phase, backed by banks, asset managers, and new market infrastructure. The institutions have entered. The rails are being built.
What Toto Finance Is Building
For Steven Gaertner, co-founder of Toto Finance, blockchain doesn’t create yield – it transforms the structure of access to investment.
Our model is straightforward: we source certified physical assets, store them securely, and create a digital twin on blockchain for each one. The investor acquires the corresponding token. If they wish, they can physically recover the asset.
One token = one unique asset. No fractionalisation. No shares of a holding company. If you own it, it belongs to you entirely.
We started with diamonds, then expanded to gold, silver, platinum, and sapphires. Assets stored in a secure vault in Liechtenstein – a jurisdiction that legally recognises the holding of tokenised assets, meaning if the company disappears tomorrow, the investor retains a direct right over their asset.
The Copper Thesis
Over the past months, Toto Finance has taken on a more institutional dimension – working with mining operators in North and South America to tokenise raw materials still buried underground.
The copper case is emblematic. A South American mine with certified reserves needs to raise capital before extraction. Classic financing circuits are long and costly. Tokenisation finances the operation upstream, offering investors an entry price below the anticipated market price.
The demand backdrop is structural:
‘What will be consumed in copper over the next twenty years equals what has been extracted over the last ten thousand years.’ – Steven Gaertner
Energy infrastructure, AI data centres, electrification – the need for copper is not a trend. It’s a structural reality.
Why It Matters
Many tokenisation projects tokenise companies that hold assets. The investor then acquires a share of a company – not the asset itself. If that company disappears, they hold nothing tangible.
At Toto Finance, the token directly represents the right over the identified and stored asset. That nuance is technical, but it’s decisive.
Tokenisation, as we conceive it, doesn’t aim to replace traditional finance. It optimises certain mechanisms: instantaneous settlement, reduction of friction, broader access to markets historically reserved for specialist players.
Read the Full Feature
Steven Gaertner’s full interview – along with perspectives from Paul-Adrien Hyppolite (Spiko), Thibault Desachy (Coinhouse), William Bailey (Bolero), and many others – is available in Finyear Magazine #2.