Recently, I have been chatting with several exchange executives in the industry, and there is a consensus— the next wave of growth for exchanges is very likely to be RWA.

The reason is simple. Meme coins and VC tokens have seen little innovation in recent years, and their popularity is gradually fading. But RWA is different; it can truly attract new users from Web2. This is not just a hype within the crypto circle, but a real market opportunity.

You can feel this momentum just by looking at the data. The trading volume of RWA on a certain leading DEX recently surpassed the $1 billion mark, with Ondo alone accounting for 89% of the share—indicating that market interest has become quite concentrated. Clearly, exchanges have also sensed this opportunity. For example, a major trading platform recently launched Tradi, focusing on US stocks and gold trading; top exchanges are following suit, with Binance, a leading platform, and others gradually launching commodities assets.

This RWA wave, in essence, is a deep collision between traditional finance and the crypto world. For exchanges, it is a key way to attract institutional and Web2 users; for users, it offers an additional opportunity to trade real assets on-chain.