The five fastest-growing categories of on-chain tokenized RWA assets

Author: Aaron Wood; Source: Cointelegraph; Compiled by: Shaw, Jinse

Standard Chartered's Head of Digital Assets Research, Geoff Kendrick, predicted in a recent research report that the total asset value in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector could reach $2.7 trillion by 2030.

He stated that currently only 3% of stablecoins and 10% of tokenized real-world assets (RWA) are used within the DeFi ecosystem, but he expects this proportion to rise to 30% by 2030.

This would represent a 36-fold increase from current levels. The accelerating pace of asset tokenization also gives Kendrick ample reason to remain optimistic.

Tokenized RWA assets cover stocks, bonds, real estate, gold, carbon credits, and other categories. As of the end of June, their total on-chain circulation had reached $32.22 billion, nearly triple the market size of approximately $11.8 billion from the same period last year. If stablecoins—essentially tokenized fiat currency products—are included, the overall tokenized asset market exceeds $328.8 billion.

Data from platform RWA.xyz shows that the total number of RWA asset holders has increased to 937,928, with user numbers rising 13% month-over-month in the latest period.

Below is a breakdown of the core growth drivers across various RWA sectors.

U.S. Treasuries

U.S. short-term Treasury bills, medium-term notes, and long-term bonds are the largest category of tokenized assets on-chain, with a total size of $15 billion. These assets offer investors high acceptance, low risk, ample liquidity, and yield-generation capabilities—features that stablecoins currently lack.

BlackRock's BUIDL fund launched in March 2024 and peaked at over $2.9 billion in total assets in June 2025. Due to capital rebalancing and competition among platforms, its current size has fallen to $2.23 billion. The fund has distributed over $100 million in dividends and is deployed on Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Avalanche, Arbitrum, Optimism, Aptos, and BNB Chain.

In February 2026, Uniswap Labs and Securitize jointly announced that shares of the BlackRock BUIDL fund are now available for trading on UniswapX. This move brings a regulated, institutional-grade tokenized fund to a decentralized exchange (though the product has access restrictions for trading participants).

Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo said: "This is precisely the breakthrough we've been working towards: merging the credit backing and regulatory standards of traditional finance with the efficiency and openness of decentralized finance."

Franklin Templeton's OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund is a similar product, with its shares issued as BENJI tokens. Its current size is $2.44 billion, deployed across multiple blockchains including Avalanche, Arbitrum, Aptos, Base, BNB Chain, Stellar, Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon.

Other notable tokenized Treasury products include Circle's USYC ($3.1 billion), Ondo's suite of products ($3.7 billion), and Invesco's WTGXX ($764 million).

Private Credit

Private credit refers to loans originated by non-bank institutions, negotiated in price and held on their own books. It is another fast-growing subcategory within RWA.

Its appeal is similar to Treasuries, but with yields higher than government bonds. Additionally, the private credit industry has long been plagued by capital lock-up periods of several years, and asset tokenization can inject liquidity into it.

Now, corporate treasurers and asset managers can transfer, use as collateral, and support redemptions on-chain for their private credit positions.

The two leading platforms for tokenized private credit are Maple Finance and Stokr. According to RWA.xyz data, each holds roughly a 22% market share, with the overall tokenized private credit market size at approximately $6.2 billion.

Stocks and ETFs

RWA.xyz data shows that the overall size of tokenized stocks is currently small, at only $2.19 billion. However, it has surged nearly 50% in the past 30 days, indicating strong growth momentum and an upcoming significant expansion in the near term.

In May, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) announced plans to pilot trading of tokenized securities. DTCC handles clearing and settlement for virtually all stock trades in the U.S., with total securities under custody exceeding $114 trillion.

The pilot is scheduled to start this month, with potential commercial launch in October. The pilot includes the Russell 1000 components, major index ETFs, and U.S. Treasuries. Over 50 financial institutions are participating, including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Citigroup, Bank of America, Circle, Ondo Finance, and Ripple Prime.

Ondo Finance, through its Global Markets platform, holds approximately 60% of the tokenized stock market share. In March 2026, it partnered with Franklin Templeton to tokenize five ETFs. In April, it partnered with Broadridge Financial Solutions to enable holders of tokenized stocks and ETFs to submit voting instructions on the underlying shares.

Gold and Commodities

Tokenized gold is the largest subcategory within tokenized commodities. Related products have been around for years, but 2026 brought an unexpected stress test.

When U.S.-Iran tensions escalated sharply in early 2026, traditional financial markets were closed, while tokenized crude oil and gold markets remained open for 24/7 trading.

After the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran earlier this year, Wall Street trading desks increasingly relied on on-chain perpetual contract platforms. During traditional market closures, this became the only venue for real-time pricing of safe-haven assets like gold and crude oil.

Since the start of 2026, weekend trading volumes for on-chain commodity perpetuals have increased eightfold. Currently, commodity on-chain perpetual contracts account for over 67% of all contracts deployed by developers on decentralized exchanges.

Thus, the tokenized commodity market never closes, providing a tangible competitive advantage during geopolitical events that do not adhere to traditional trading hours.

In March 2026, the total size of tokenized commodities reached $5.8 billion, currently falling back to $4.7 billion, with gold accounting for the vast majority.

The correlation between tokenized gold trading volume trends and the traditional gold market has continued to strengthen. While historically weak, the correlation coefficient broke above 0.70 in Q1 2026, signaling the maturation of the on-chain gold market.

Real Estate

Real estate tokenization remains more of a vision at this stage, with no large-scale implementation yet.

As part of the RWA sector, the current total size of tokenized real estate assets is only $202.7 million. However, with multiple compliant products launching in two key markets this year, this sector is expected to experience sustained growth.

In February 2026, the Dubai Land Department launched Phase 2 of its real estate tokenization project, allowing secondary trading of tokenized property units. In the same quarter, Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission approved a real estate tokenization product from Delin Holdings.

Real estate tokenization can provide fractional ownership solutions for investors unable to afford high property investment thresholds. One token represents a partial interest in the property, allowing holders to receive rental income proportional to their share and transfer their holdings at any time without waiting for the entire property to be sold.

Overall RWA Size Remains Relatively Limited

Tokenized real-world assets (RWA) are growing, but the road ahead is still long. Tokenized Treasury products are the largest and most mature RWA category, with a total size near $15 billion. In comparison, the traditional U.S. Treasury market is approximately $30 trillion, making the former's size utterly negligible.

The DTCC holds assets under custody worth $114 trillion; tokenized stocks are almost negligible by comparison.

Liquidity in the sector remains weak. Most RWA products see thin secondary market trading, with investors generally holding for longer periods.

However, regulators are gradually embracing this sector. In March, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved Nasdaq's proposal to allow certain stocks to be traded and settled via token form. Analysts and industry observers predict that tokenized stock trading will soon be broadly permitted. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins is likely to use "innovation exemptions" to greenlight RWA development.

The debate in the industry now is no longer whether real-world assets will be tokenized, but rather how fast this process will be.