Toyota joins cryptocurrencies—explores blockchain to turn cars into tradable assets—car tokenization could open up new investment opportunities
Toyota is changing and wants to be the first in the market in everything, now it plans to tokenize cars through blockchain. Sure, wait, if you are a millennial like us you did not understand anything, do not worry because we are going to explain everything very clearly below so you know what we are talking about. According to a report published by Toyota Blockchain Lab last August 19, the company presented the Mobility Orchestration Network (MON) project, a network designed to record key data of each vehicle and transform them into digital assets. Basically, the proposal is that each car becomes a digital asset through blockchain, and what does that mean? That each vehicle will have a unique token that will collect the most important data such as the moment it leaves the factory. Toyota wants to revolutionize the market and with this it is going to achieve it, of course!
It means turning it into a digital asset that you can buy, sell or invest in without needing to physically have the car, for example, you have a car worth 20,000 euros. Toyota creates an NFT with all its info, and that NFT can be sold or even divided into “pieces” so that several people invest in it, like shares.
Basically it offers transparency for buyers, if you want to buy a second-hand vehicle, you enter the NFT and see its complete history without having to pay the authorities, on the other hand, there are companies that can create funds through investments in these vehicles.
Toyota has explained everything in a report published by its Toyota Blockchain Lab division. There they detail that the idea is not simply to store digital information, what they propose is that each car has a public, traceable and secure history, as if it were a digital certificate impossible to manipulate.
According to Toyota, it would not be necessary for a person to physically have the car to “own it.” In this new model, you could buy the NFT of a car and be part of an investment fund. Something like having shares of a car, without needing to touch the steering wheel.
Imagine funds that group NFTs of robo-taxis or delivery trucks in emerging countries. You invest in those NFTs, and if that fleet works well, you earn money with it. That strange. That new. And yes, that possible.
Toyota also points to another change of mindset: instead of a car always belonging to a single person, it could be part of a shared ecosystem. A car with several investors. Or several users. Or both things. And all managed with blockchain so it is very clear who has what and how.
In summary, they are completely rethinking the concept of car ownership. It would no longer be only “mine” or “yours” but also a shared digital asset, with its own value in a completely new market.
Toyota is not a stranger to technological innovation projects, but with MON it aims to transform not only car ownership, but also the way we perceive them as assets. The company considers that vehicles do not have to be rigidly tied to a single owner, but can be part of a shared and digitized ecosystem, with multiple investors or users benefiting from their use. Is this the future?
© 2025 Unión Rayo
© 2025 Unión Rayo