Purpose: Bond tokenization has been accompanied by promises of increased liquidity and reduced costs, yet the existing literature remains fragmented and contradictory. This research aimed to systematically integrate the findings and provide a holistic analysis of the benefits, barriers, and structural impacts of tokenization on the bond market. The analytical framework of this research can also be applied to examine the challenges of tokenizing Sharia-compliant instruments such as Sukuk and Participation Papers.

Methodology: Using a qualitative meta-synthesis approach and the Sandelowski and Barroso model, 25 articles were evaluated with the CASP tool and synthesized through thematic synthesis in three stages. Reliability was confirmed using Cohen's Kappa coefficient, the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient, and an expert panel.

Findings: Three overarching themes were extracted: (1) Practical benefits including reduced settlement time and transaction costs, although increased liquidity has not yet materialized; (2) The regulatory labyrinth, encompassing legal ambiguities and fragmented frameworks that create a vicious cycle of uncertainty; and (3) The structural evolution of the market, which reveals a fundamental paradox: decentralized technology has not eliminated intermediaries but has reinvented them within hybrid models. A comparative analysis with the Iranian market reveals the compounded complexity of dual (financial and Sharia) supervision and highlights the necessity of a jurisprudential-technological regulatory sandbox.

Originality: For the first time, this study integrates the three streams of efficiency, regulation, and technical structure into a unified framework, discovering the governance paradox. This theoretical innovation, by explaining the hybrid evolution of markets, provides a roadmap for policymakers in both conventional and Islamic financial markets.