Tokenized Assets Explode 232% as Institutional Money Floods On-Chain
Wall Street's quiet revolution just got loud. Forget dipping a toe—institutions are now diving headfirst into blockchain-based finance, and the numbers are screaming.
The On-Chain Land Grab
Traditional finance is executing a coordinated pivot. It's not about crypto-curiosity anymore; it's a full-scale migration of value. Real-world assets—from treasury bonds to real estate—are being digitized, wrapped in code, and thrown onto distributed ledgers at a breakneck pace. The old guard isn't just watching; they're building the rails.
Why the Sudden Stampede?
The pitch is simple: efficiency. Tokenization slashes settlement times from days to minutes, operates 24/7, and automates compliance through smart contracts. It turns illiquid assets into programmable, tradeable instruments. For fund managers staring down razor-thin margins, that's not an innovation—it's a lifeline. (Though, let's be honest, watching a hedge fund explain 'decentralization' with a straight face is its own kind of performance art.)
The Infrastructure Behind the Boom
This isn't happening on shaky ground. Regulated digital securities platforms, institutional-grade custody solutions, and clear—if evolving—legal frameworks are forming the bedrock. The pipes are being built to Wall Street spec, capable of handling the trillion-dollar flows they intend to send.
The 232% Reality Check
That staggering figure isn't a speculative blip. It's a direct measure of capital reallocation. It represents pension funds, asset managers, and banks moving beyond pilot programs and into production. The narrative has flipped from 'if' to 'how much' and 'how fast.'
The genie isn't going back in the bottle. Tokenization cuts out the middleman, bypasses legacy bottlenecks, and rebuilds markets from the code up. The 232% surge is just the opening salvo in the re-wiring of global finance—proving that sometimes, the most disruptive technology is the one that finally gets the suits to buy in.
Tokenized equities value increased 27x
According to the report, tokenized equities drove impressive growth in RWAs, bringing traditional stocks and ETFs onto the blockchain. From $31.57 million in January last year, tokenized stocks soared to $858.43 million by December, a 27-fold increase in just 12 months. Platforms such as xStocks and Ondo Global Markets particularly fueled the surge, paving the way for actual equities on crypto rails. They provided investors 24/7 availability, fractional ownership, and near-instant settlement.
Considering the explosive rise in RWAs and institutional adoption, some analysts believe the market could exceed $2 trillion by the year 2030. In early 2024, McKinsey analysts predicted the on-chain RWA value could rise to over $4 trillion under bullish conditions. Around the same time, Larry Fink, chairman and CEO of BlackRock, also noted that more institutions WOULD tokenize financial assets and soon every stock, every bond […] would be on one general ledger.
Tokenization did not suddenly take off overnight. Early entrants, including TZERO and a few pioneers, began exploring blockchain-based securities, paving the way for the growth we see today.
However, the sector truly took off when BlackRock launched its BUIDL fund on Ethereum, alongside Securitize, in March 2024. The fund’s value grew from $40 million at the fund’s inception to $1.8 billion on-chain as of the end of 2025. To date, BUIDL has expanded beyond ethereum to encompass several networks, including BNB Chain and Aptos.
The stablecoin market hit $300 billion in 2025
The Cryptopolitan report also reveals that RWAs were not the only assets recently experiencing exponential growth; stablecoins also saw a surge. In total, stablecoin capitalization increased from $216 billion to $306.4 billion, representing a $90 billion rise, or 42%, which indicates the ongoing demand for blockchain-based settlement assets.
Moreover, stablecoins have achieved a 30-day average transaction volume of approximately $3.4 trillion, surpassing that of Visa, PayPal, and global remittances. Additionally, the number of daily stablecoin senders also jumped to 2.3 million from 1.2 million. Cryptopolitan analysts also found that stablecoins were being used more for payments and transfers in the year than for speculative trading.
Timothy Massad, former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, had cited the enactment of the GENIUS Act as a catalyst for market growth in stablecoins, arguing that the framework brought clarity. He remarked, “The passage of the GENIUS Act was quite important. That created a federal regulatory framework for stablecoins that we haven’t had.”
However, stablecoins were already taking off among institutions before the GENIUS Act took effect. Stripe said in May that its platform would support stablecoin rails across more than 100 countries. In September, PayPal also added PYUSD support on the Tron and Avalanche networks.
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