Can MANTRA become the dedicated Layer 1 for the RWA era? A new competitive landscape among public chains from Ethereum and Solana to Cosmos

By mid-June 2026, the on-chain tokenized real-world assets (RWA) market size, excluding stablecoins, has climbed to about $34 billion, expanding more than fivefold from an approximately $5.4 billion baseline at the start of 2025. Achieving a gain of over 500% in just 15 months, RWA has evolved from a fringe narrative in the crypto sector into a structural trend now backed by the strongest institutional consensus in the industry.

Rising in lockstep with this scale expansion is a fundamental shift in the competitive logic among Layer1 public chains. In the past few years, the core narrative of public-chain competition has revolved around transactions per second (TPS)—higher throughput and lower latency have been seen as key metrics for capturing developers and users. But the rise of RWA introduces an entirely new set of evaluation dimensions into the competitive framework: scene fit, the completeness of regulatory-compliance infrastructure, and how easily traditional financial institutions can access it are becoming more critical differentiation factors than pure performance metrics.

This shift is not a theoretical exercise. Market data from the first half of 2026 provides clear empirical evidence: Ethereum still leads in total RWA value with $16.3 billion, but its RWA value has fallen by 4.7% within 30 days. Solana’s tokenized asset value doubled in 2026 to $3.62 billion; the number of RWA holders surpassed 300k wallets, ranking first among all blockchains. The interplay of gains and losses between these two chains in the RWA track reveals differences in how well they adapt to new demand based on their respective positioning.

This article starts from the development paths of four representative Layer1s—Ethereum, Solana, Cosmos, and MANTRA—to analyze the new requirements that the RWA era imposes on underlying public chains, and the strengths and weaknesses of different technical routes in meeting those requirements.

Ethereum: The incumbent of liquidity hub, and its challenges

Ethereum’s core advantage in the RWA track lies in its indispensability as the settlement and liquidity hub for the crypto ecosystem. As of mid-July 2026, Ethereum holds $16.3 billion worth of tokenized assets, about five times Solana’s total. This leading position is supported by two structural factors: first, Ethereum has the deepest DeFi liquidity and the largest developer ecosystem today, enabling tokenized assets to access a full suite of financial services here—from issuance and trading to lending and borrowing; second, major institutional-grade tokenization products, including BlackRock’s BUIDL, prioritize deployment on Ethereum, creating a clustering effect for institutional capital.

However, Ethereum’s RWA value declined by 4.7% over the 30 days in June 2026, occurring at the same time as the fact that its number of holders (about 200k wallets) was surpassed by Solana (over 300k). This trend points to Ethereum’s structural constraints in the RWA track: higher transaction fees and relatively slower finality reduce its cost competitiveness in RWA application scenarios aimed at high-frequency, small-ticket, retail-facing use. Ethereum’s RWA ecosystem is more suited to large-ticket, low-frequency institutional transactions—this is the source of its current value leadership, but it may also be an implied boundary on its growth ceiling.

Solana: RWA holder expansion in high-frequency scenarios

Solana has followed a path in the RWA track that is sharply different from Ethereum. Its tokenized asset value rose from about $1.4 billion in January 2026 to $3.62 billion in July, achieving an increase of more than 100%. Even more notable is the explosive growth in the number of holders: it surpassed 200k wallets at the end of April, reached 285,971 wallets in mid-June, and crossed 300k in July. This growth rate means Solana added roughly 100k RWA holders in less than three months.

Solana’s RWA expansion logic aligns closely with its underlying architecture. Its low-fee, fast-settlement characteristics make it a natural venue for high-frequency activities such as stablecoin payments and tokenized equity trading. In June 2026, Solana’s spot trading volume of tokenized equities was $3.47 billion, accounting for over 96% of blockchain-related activity in that field. Japan’s financial giant SBI Holdings plans to migrate its stablecoin and tokenized asset strategy to Solana, further confirming the chain’s appeal in institutional-grade high-frequency scenarios.

But Solana’s RWA path also has boundaries. Its $3.62 billion tokenized asset value remains far below Ethereum’s $16.3 billion, and growth is mainly driven by the retail segment. For large institutional RWA deployments that require complex compliance frameworks, strict KYC/AML processes, and the ability to produce regulatory reporting, Solana’s current infrastructure has not yet provided institutional safeguards at the same level as Ethereum.

Cosmos: Cross-chain architecture as another possibility for RWA

Cosmos’s role in the RWA track is fundamentally different from the first two chains. Cosmos itself is not a single Layer1; rather, it is a connected network composed of independent blockchains, with cross-chain asset and data transfers enabled through the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol. This architecture offers a modular deployment approach for RWA: different types of real-world assets can run on their respective application chains, and then liquidity can be aggregated via IBC.

This idea gained new practical validation in July 2026. Ault Blockchain launched a Cosmos-based Layer1 network dedicated to settlement for tokenized real-world assets. The network is EVM-compatible and is designed to operate normally even when the banking system is down. Previously, the Cosmos team had already stated clearly that it was focusing on building tokenized deposit solutions for banks.

However, Cosmos’s ecosystem also faces significant challenges in the RWA track. While its decentralized multi-chain architecture provides flexibility, it also brings problems such as fragmented liquidity and higher user barriers. Compared with Ethereum and Solana, Cosmos has not yet produced a scaled RWA benchmark case—its token ATOM’s current market cap is about $780 million, ranking 99th, reflecting that the market has not formed strong consensus on Cosmos’s RWA narrative.

MANTRA: A Layer1 built for compliant finance

MANTRA represents another approach to Layer1 design in the RWA era—not treating compliance as an optional feature of applications, but as a native underlying attribute of the blockchain.

MANTRA Chain went live on the mainnet on October 23, 2024. It is an EVM-compatible Layer1 specifically designed for tokenizing real-world assets. Its technical architecture is built on Cosmos SDK, and it supports both EVM and CosmWasm dual virtual machines—allowing tokenized asset contracts written in Solidity to directly interact with compliance contracts written in CosmWasm, without needing cross-chain bridging.

MANTRA’s core differentiation is its protocol-layer compliance blocks. The chain integrates an identity verification framework based on decentralized identity identifiers (DIDs), supporting functions such as KYC/AML compliance checks, permissioned asset access control, and regulatory reporting. These capabilities enable it to meet the compliance infrastructure requirements of products like tokenized securities and regulated investment funds. In addition, MANTRA has obtained a license issued by the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), placing it within a recognized regulatory framework.

Progress at the institutional level provides external validation for this compliance-first design. In May 2026, Securitize—an regulated platform managing more than $4 billion in tokenized assets, and also the issuer of the BlackRock BUIDL fund—joined MANTRA Chain’s active validator network. This decision means that the infrastructure layer of MANTRA Chain directly gained access from platforms managing institutional tokenized products such as BlackRock, Apollo, Hamilton Lane, KKR, VanEck, and BNY. In June 2026, Inveniam, an investor focused on compliant finance technology, announced it would acquire MANTRA with the goal of integrating blockchain infrastructure with private market data and AI technology.

In market performance, the MANTRA token is currently priced at $0.006666, with a 24-hour increase of +4.35% and an estimated market cap of about $31.74 million. Although its scale is still small, its technical route and the pace of institutional partnerships give it a unique position in the niche track of RWA-dedicated Layer1s.

Reconstructing the competition dimensions for Layer1s in the RWA era

From the development paths of the four chains above, several key dimensions of Layer1 competition in the RWA era can be identified:

First, scenario adaptability replaces general performance as the primary differentiation factor. Ethereum’s general smart-contract ecosystem makes it the preferred settlement layer for institutional RWA, but its high-fee structure limits penetration on the retail side; Solana’s high-performance architecture gives it an edge in high-frequency scenarios like tokenized equity trading, but its infrastructure is not yet complete in the face of complex compliance requirements; MANTRA’s RWA-dedicated design gives it native advantages in compliance-oriented finance scenarios, but its ecosystem scale and liquidity depth still require time to accumulate.

Second, compliance capability evolves from an add-on into a core competitive moat. In the first half of 2026, the regulatory frameworks for RWA across major global jurisdictions have become largely clear—EU MiCA has formally brought RWAs under regulation, Hong Kong has issued formal RWA admission standards, and the US “CLARITY Act” is advancing at the committee level. Against this backdrop, whether a public chain can provide compliance enforcement at the protocol level, rather than relying on third-party service providers to retrofit after the fact, will directly affect institutional adoption decision costs. MANTRA’s design of embedding compliance blocks into the chain’s base layer provides a first-mover advantage in this dimension.

Third, the convenience of institutional access is reshaping where value flows. In Q2 2026, although prices for major crypto assets fell, tokenized RWA assets grew by 50.3%. This divergence indicates that institutional capital is treating RWA as an asset class separate from crypto market volatility. A public chain that can carry this capital flow with the lowest friction costs will gain sustained structural growth momentum.

Conclusion

The RWA track’s boom is redefining the competitive rules for Layer1 public chains. The era of the TPS contest is coming to an end. Scenario fit, compliance capability, and institutional access efficiency are becoming the new yardsticks. Ethereum is defending its value stronghold with liquidity advantages and a base of institutional trust; Solana is entering the retail-side RWA market with high performance and high-frequency scenarios; Cosmos offers another possibility of modular deployment through its cross-chain architecture; and MANTRA, with a compliance-first dedicated Layer1 design, is trying to establish a moat in the niche track of institutional-grade RWA infrastructure.

Data from the first half of 2026 already shows that the RWA market is expanding at a pace far exceeding industry expectations. In this incremental market, no single chain can capture all scenarios—multi-chain coexistence is becoming a reality. The real question worth watching is not “which one is the best RWA Layer1,” but “what kind of Layer1 do different RWA scenarios each require?” The answer to that question is being jointly written by the development paths of Ethereum, Solana, Cosmos, and MANTRA.

FAQ

Q1: What is the core difference between MANTRA and Ethereum in RWA tokenization?

Ethereum is a general smart-contract platform, and RWA tokenization is one of its many application scenarios; MANTRA is a dedicated Layer1 customized for RWA tokenization from the ground up. Ethereum’s strengths are liquidity and ecosystem scale; MANTRA’s strengths are compliance blocks and an identity verification framework built into the protocol layer, enabling regulatory requirements to be met at lower cost.

Q2: Where do Solana’s competitive advantages in the RWA track mainly show up?

Solana’s core advantages are low fees and high throughput, making it an ideal infrastructure for high-frequency RWA scenarios such as tokenized equity trading and stablecoin payments. In June 2026, Solana’s spot trading volume of tokenized equities accounted for more than 96% of blockchain-related activity in that field. Its RWA holder count has already surpassed 300k, ranking first among all blockchains.

Q3: What is the significance of Cosmos’s cross-chain architecture for RWA tokenization?

Cosmos’s IBC cross-chain protocol allows different RWA assets to run on their respective dedicated application chains, and then liquidity can be aggregated through cross-chain communication. This modular architecture provides flexible deployment options for different types of real-world assets, avoiding the architecture compromises that would come from one chain carrying all asset types.

Q4: What practical value does MANTRA’s MultiVM architecture have?

MANTRA supports both EVM and CosmWasm virtual machines, allowing developers to write tokenized asset contracts in Solidity and compliance and identity verification contracts in CosmWasm, with both directly interacting on the same chain without cross-chain bridging. This reduces the technical complexity and security risks of compliant RWA applications.

Q5: What level is the overall size of the RWA market currently at?

As of mid-June 2026, the on-chain tokenized RWA market size excluding stablecoins is about $34 billion, growing more than fivefold from $5.4 billion at the start of 2025. In a benchmark scenario, McKinsey predicts that by the 2030s the tokenized assets market (excluding stablecoins and CBDCs) will reach about $2 trillion.