What a tokenization platform costs
The software is only part of the budget. This guide lists every cost line of a tokenization platform, what drives each one, and how to plan a budget that holds.
The short answer
At Coretos, platform builds typically start from USD 100,000. A white-label launch in one market with standard structures sits at the lower end; a custom platform across several markets, with trading and deep integrations, costs more and is delivered in stages. Legal work, audits and third-party services come on top and should be planned from the start.
The cost lines
| Cost line | What it covers | One-off or ongoing |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery and architecture | Scope, system design, security model, plan and budget | One-off |
| Platform build or set-up | Investor portal, issuer console, compliance engine, payments, admin | One-off, in stages |
| Smart contracts and audits | Token contracts plus an independent security audit | One-off per contract version |
| Legal and structuring | Token classification, legal wrapper, offering documents, licences | One-off per structure and market |
| Identity and AML checks | KYC and AML provider fees per investor and ongoing screening | Ongoing |
| Custody and payments | Custodian, payment provider and banking fees | Ongoing |
| Hosting and security | Cloud infrastructure, monitoring, backups, penetration tests | Ongoing |
| Support and roadmap | Bug fixes, updates, new features | Ongoing |
| Licence (white-label only) | Platform licence and usage fees | Ongoing |
What moves the budget
- Number of markets. Each jurisdiction adds investor rules, documents, languages and sometimes licences.
- Investor types. Retail investors need more disclosures, suitability checks and consumer protections than professional investors.
- Asset structure. One building in one company is simpler than a fund or a programme of many issuances.
- Money flows. Bank transfers, cards, stablecoins, multi-currency accounts and automated distributions each add integration work.
- Secondary trading. Peer-to-peer transfers are simple; a full trading venue is a product of its own.
- Integrations. Fund administrators, banks, accounting, customer relationship management (CRM) and existing platforms.
- Custom features. Anything unique to your business, from waterfall calculations to AI assistants.
Hidden costs to plan for
- Re-audits every time smart contracts change.
- Ongoing screening of investors, not only the first check.
- Regulatory reporting and record keeping.
- Investor support once real money is involved.
- Security testing before launch and at least yearly afterwards.
How to budget well
- Start with a short discovery that ends in a written scope and a staged budget.
- Launch the smallest version that is fully compliant, then add features.
- Keep 15–20% of the build budget for changes that legal work or first investors will bring.
- Compare total cost of ownership over three years, not just the first invoice — especially white-label versus custom.
Read next: white-label vs custom tokenization platform.