How much wealth is expected to transfer to younger generations over the next two decades, and what does this mean for tokenized assets?

According to Angie Walker, Global Head of Commercialization at Apex Digital, $124 trillion will be passed down through the generations over the coming two decades. She argues this transfer will fundamentally reshape demand for investment access — driving younger recipients to expect broader entry into quality assets, such as private markets, far earlier in life, and in a digitally native way that matches how they already hold and transact value.

The significance of this figure goes beyond its scale. Walker's argument is structural: the incoming recipients of this wealth already predominantly hold digital wallets. They are not going to adapt to legacy fund infrastructure — they will expect investment products to meet them where they are. This is precisely why 42% of the 100 senior managers surveyed by Apex Digital and Mergermarket identified broadening investor access as the primary driver of tokenization, making it the single most cited motivation in the study.

This generational shift sits alongside already accelerating market momentum. Global real-world asset tokenization has just exceeded approximately $25 billion, and US Treasuries tokenization grew by 500% in less than two years — establishing proof of concept for the infrastructure that the next generation of investors will inherit and use. The $124 trillion wealth transfer is not a distant hypothesis; it is the demand-side force that gives tokenized private markets their long-term growth thesis. You can explore the full episode and the survey's findings on Listenly's The Single Source page.