How 24/7 Digital Marketplaces Will Drive Growth in Emerging Economies

The era of vague concepts like 'soft power' and 'impact investing' is coming to an end, making way for a new approach centered on benchmarking, concrete key performance indicators, and strategically deployed sovereign capital. The 20th century's Bretton Woods and Marshall Plan laid the groundwork for post-war financial recovery. Although the stakes are equally high today, the tools at our disposal have changed dramatically. From Ukraine to sub-Saharan Africa, emerging markets are striving to establish financial credibility in a world where trust is scarce. Traditional aid models have been plagued by a lack of transparency and inefficiency, and the Trump Administration's DOGE initiative has further dismantled these systems by introducing measurable, tech-enabled delivery systems. The inevitable outcome of this shift is tokenization. BlackRock is paving the way forward with its iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), which has garnered over $14 billion in inflows and generated nearly $200 million in annual fee revenue. This not only makes it a standout among new ETFs but also a symbol of the growing acceptance of digital assets as a viable investment class, particularly among institutional investors who were previously wary of volatility. As mainstream investors increasingly embrace digital assets through regulated vehicles like IBIT, capital markets are beginning to reflect a broader appetite for investments with potential for significant upside – a characteristic long associated with emerging economies. Historically, emerging markets have struggled to attract stable foreign direct investment due to factors such as political uncertainty, limited liquidity, and underdeveloped financial infrastructure. However, the increasing acceptance of bitcoin and other decentralized assets by institutional investors is creating new pathways for capital to flow into these regions. Just as ETFs like IBIT have created a regulated bridge into the world of crypto, new financial structures – including tokenized infrastructure, auditable capital flows, and blockchain-based land registries – are likely to have a similar impact on the development of emerging economies. The same investors who are pouring billions into Bitcoin ETFs may soon view emerging economies not as high-risk investments but as opportunities for exponential returns, particularly when paired with digital infrastructure designed with transparency and scalability in mind. A revolution in data entry for global aid is also underway. At the heart of every successful logistics or capital deployment strategy lies a fundamental concept: data entry. Every item, from bottles of clean water to corrugated roof panels and fabric for refugee housing, must be recorded, reconciled, and reported. Currently, this process is carried out manually across multiple silos, including UN spreadsheets, NGO CRMs, and local government PDFs. However, by tokenizing these entries – embedding them in smart contracts, linking them to geolocation, timestamp, and vendor profiles – a live ledger of aid in motion can be created. This new approach to accountability will enable not only transparent procurement but also the creation of tokenized local liquidity. This could include local entrepreneurs being paid in stablecoins, verified vendors being rewarded with smart grants, or veteran-owned Ukrainian firms receiving tradable carbon or aid credits. Tokenization allows physical goods, services, and contractual obligations to be represented as digital assets on immutable ledgers. In practice, this means that a water pump in Sumy or a shipment of medical supplies in Sudan can be tracked, verified, and paid for in real-time without the need for bureaucratic processes or trust deficits. A properly structured token ecosystem can create global, auditable, and real-time liquidity for critical development resources, effectively establishing a 24/7 commodity market for essential items like gravel, steel, solar panels, or cement in post-conflict zones. The establishment of 24/7 markets is a strategic imperative for the US. Global commodity markets are not designed to accommodate the needs of emerging economies. Most development requirements, such as timber, power tools, and clean water filtration systems, are transacted through outdated, manually priced channels. This creates an environment conducive to corruption, delays, and cost overruns. Tokenized markets enable round-the-clock pricing, liquidity, and settlement. A contractor rebuilding schools in South Sudan can lock in the price for sheet metal for the next day with a single click. A regional bank in Tbilisi can see in real-time whether a food distribution contract has been fulfilled. Governments can use transparent delivery records as collateral instead of relying on donors to trust their paperwork. As China increases its presence in the Global South with opaque lending practices and Russia continues to destabilize the region, the US needs a private-sector-led, transparency-first development model. Tokenized systems provide built-in auditability, modular integration, and sovereign-aligned incentives, aligning with the State Department's mandate for outcomes-based aid rather than unconditional funding. Through our work, we have seen firsthand that emerging markets are in dire need of trust, coordination, and clarity. Tokenization is not the starting point in these spaces, but it will be the eventual endpoint. In the interim, prioritizing best practices for data entry to ensure that life-saving resources reach their intended use is crucial. These logs will contain valuable data sets for reconstruction and lay the foundation for 24/7 frontier markets. Just as the Bretton Woods system created a new financial order with pen and paper, tokenization will do the same with code, establishing a new financial framework for US-led reconstruction.