Why does RWA have greater long-term potential than DeFi? An in-depth explanation of Gate TradFi products

How long has it been since you’ve found “understandable” returns on the chain?
From the ultra-high annualized yields of DeFi Summer to the current widespread decline in DeFi protocol yields and liquidity fragmentation,
DeFi’s growth seems to have hit a ceiling.
Meanwhile, a track favored by Wall Street giants is rapidly emerging—RWA (Real-World Asset Tokenization).
From 2023 to 2026, the RWA market has grown 20 times in just three years, with a total market cap now approaching $30 billion.

From “On-Chain Internal Circulation” to “Real Returns”: RWA Rewrites DeFi Logic

The core dilemma of DeFi lies in its “closed nature.”
Most DeFi protocols currently mainly circulate value within the crypto world—users’ returns come from new user onboarding and token releases, not from cash flows generated by underlying commercial activities.
This endogenous cycle, lacking incremental capital, can easily fall into negative-sum games.

RWA is entirely different.
It maps off-chain real assets like government bonds, private credit, stocks, and real estate onto the blockchain, enabling crypto capital to directly access the income generated by the real economy.
As of April 2026, the global tokenized real asset value has risen to approximately $24.9 billion, nearly four times the amount in 2025.

A study by DWF Labs indicates that by 2026, the market is shifting from “DeFi yields” to “institutional-grade on-chain returns,” especially for products with credible structures, standardized onboarding processes, and repeatable distribution channels.
Institutional investors are increasingly favoring RWA over pure DeFi lending, mainly because:
RWA has lower risk exposure, and its sources of yield are clearer and more traceable.

Essentially, RWA introduces an “external yield anchor” into the crypto economy—when the real economy generates income, RWA holders can share in this growth, no longer relying solely on crypto market sentiment.

Traditional Financial Giants Enter En Masse: The “Institutional Turning Point” of RWA

If before 2021, RWA was just a “marginal experiment” by native crypto projects, by 2026, the full entry of traditional financial giants has pushed this narrative into an irreversible historical inflection point.

In April 2026, the four major Wall Street firms—BlackRock, JPMorgan Chase, DTCC, and Goldman Sachs—were revealed to be actively building infrastructure for on-chain government bonds, real estate, and bonds.
This signals the arrival of a super-cycle that could bring trillions of dollars of traditional financial products onto the blockchain.

A more symbolic event: Nasdaq has received SEC approval to allow some stocks to be traded as tokens, with stocks in traditional accounts fully equivalent to token versions on the blockchain, traded on the same order book.
DTC (Depository Trust Company) has received an SEC “no-action letter” to initiate a three-year blockchain pilot, meaning stocks can be settled on-chain within a compliant framework.

As HashKey RWA CEO Anna Liu stated at the 2026 Hong Kong Web3 Carnival, the IMF has characterized asset tokenization as a “fundamental restructuring of financial architecture.”
This is no longer a “small narrative” within the crypto circle but a top-down upgrade of financial infrastructure.

Leading RWA Assets: Tokenized U.S. Treasuries Pave the Billion-Dollar Track

Among various RWA assets, tokenized U.S. Treasuries are currently the largest and fastest-growing segment.
By April 2026, the tokenized U.S. Treasuries reached about $14 billion, a 37-fold increase from early 2023.
Within the nearly $30 billion total RWA market cap, bonds (mainly U.S. Treasuries and money market funds) dominate, with a related market value of approximately $16.25 billion.

Major market leaders include:
Circle’s USYC (~$2.9 billion),
BlackRock’s BUIDL (over $2.5 billion),
Centrifuge’s JTRSY (~$1.5 billion),
Franklin Templeton’s BENJI (~$1 billion),
and Ondo Finance’s USDY (~$972 million).

Compliance as the Primary Moat: Gate’s Global Licensing Strategy

For the long-term development of RWA, compliance is the biggest moat and the core advantage over pure DeFi.
DeFi faces fundamental regulatory uncertainty;
whereas RWA is built from the asset source on a compliant framework, inherently possessing cyclical resilience.

Gate leads the industry in compliance deployment.
At its 13th anniversary in April 2026, founder Han Lin explicitly stated that the top priority in the next three years is to “fully embrace compliance,” with plans to obtain licenses in Hong Kong, Singapore, and the EU’s MiCA framework within 2026.

As of April 2026, Gate US holds 34 state-level money transfer licenses, operating across 46 U.S. jurisdictions.
In Europe, Gate obtained a payment institution license from the Malta Financial Services Authority in February 2026 (based on PSD2), enabling compliant payment solutions across all EU member states.

Gate TradFi Product Breakdown: A “One-Stop” RWA Investment Portal

As a flagship entry point for the “TradFi + DeFi” strategy, Gate TradFi connects to U.S. and Hong Kong stocks and pre-IPO assets, offering users diversified RWA investment channels.

(1) Direct Investment in Leading RWA Projects
Gate’s spot trading platform now features many core RWA projects.
For example, Ondo Finance (ONDO): as of April 21, 2026, ONDO’s price is about $0.2552.
Ondo holds a significant share in tokenized U.S. Treasuries, with a tokenized bond volume of about $2.6 billion, and has regulatory approval to expand tokenized stocks and ETFs in 30 European countries.

(2) GUSD—RWA-Driven Stable Income Financial Products
For investors seeking stable returns, Gate’s GUSD offers an attractive option.
GUSD is a yield-bearing certificate minted 1:1 with USDT/USDC, with yields derived from Gate’s ecosystem revenue, government bonds RWA, and high-quality yield assets supported by stablecoins.
As of April 24, 2026, GUSD issuance has reached $190 million.

(3) Multi-Asset Coverage and Unified Account System
In February 2026, Gate launched a TradFi API tailored for professional traders and quant teams, covering forex, precious metals, indices, and commodities.
Users can use USDT as a unified margin collateral to trade both crypto and traditional assets within the same account, with leverage up to 500x.

(4) Private Wealth Management Services
In March 2026, Gate upgraded its private wealth management system, offering high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors institutional-level rates comparable to VIP 15+, customized lending, and exclusive financial privileges.

(5) Diverse RWA-Related Financial Products
Gate’s wealth management division also offers a variety of RWA-related yield products, including USDT fixed-term deposits and on-chain earning schemes, integrating lending markets, structured derivatives, and native on-chain yields to create a full spectrum from conservative to high-yield options.

Future Outlook

According to Grayscale research, tokenized assets currently account for only 0.01% of the global stock and bond market value.
Although the RWA market has grown 20 times in three years to nearly $30 billion, this is just the beginning.
Projections suggest that by the 2030s, the total tokenized RWA market could reach $4 to $16 trillion.

Compared to DeFi’s increasingly “closed cycle” dilemma, RWA, backed by real-world assets and income sources, is reshaping the underlying logic of on-chain finance.
From BlackRock to Nasdaq, from the SEC to Hong Kong’s financial regulators, the global “tokenization upgrade” of the financial system is irreversible.

For investors, the key is choosing compliant, secure, and liquid platforms to participate in this transformation.
Gate, with its leading global compliance strategy, comprehensive product matrix, and “TradFi + DeFi” strategic positioning, is becoming a central hub connecting traditional finance and the crypto world.

Summary

RWA introduces stable, verifiable income sources for crypto capital by bringing off-chain real assets on-chain, driven by real economic growth rather than pure crypto narratives, offering long-term cyclical resilience.
Leveraging global compliance and a complete TradFi product suite, Gate provides a one-stop channel from direct RWA token investments to stable financial products.
With the accelerated entry of traditional financial giants, the trillion-dollar RWA narrative has only just begun.