🚀 Real-World Asset Tokens Rocket 65% as Wall Street’s ’Smart Money’ Bets Big on Crypto’s Next Frontier

Forget your grandma's bonds—tokenized skyscrapers and whiskey barrels are mooning while TradFi scrambles to catch up.

The floodgates open

Institutional capital is bulldozing into RWA tokens like a bull in a china shop, fueling a 65% surge that's leaving legacy assets in the dust. Suddenly, everyone wants blockchain receipts for physical assets—just don't ask about the plumbing.

Yield hunters pivot hard

With 10-year Treasuries looking like medieval relics, hedge funds are dumping 'safe' assets for tokenized real estate and commodities. The irony? They're paying gas fees to own fractionalized warehouses.

The compliance tango

Regulators are stuck playing whack-a-mole as structured products get reborn on-chain. Meanwhile, crypto natives smirk—they've been collateralizing weird assets since 2017.

As one VC put it: 'We're not disrupting Wall Street—we're giving them the dopamine hit they crave.' Just wait until the first SEC-approved tokenized REIT blows past its ATH while dividend stocks flatline.

TLDR

• RWA (Real-World Asset) total value locked reached $12.83 billion in 2025, up 65% from $7.75 billion at the start of the year
• BlackRock BUIDL leads with $2.83 billion, followed by Ethena USDt at $1.46 billion and Ondo Finance at $1.39 billion
• Mercado Bitcoin announced tokenization of $200 million in RWAs on XRP Ledger, including fixed-income and equity instruments
• Despite high transaction volumes, only around 300 active wallets participate, indicating institutional rather than retail adoption
• Boston Consulting Group forecasts the tokenized RWA market could reach $19 trillion by 2033

The tokenization of real-world assets has emerged as a major force in crypto markets. According to DeFiLlama data from July 3, RWA total value locked across major protocols reached $12.83 billion.

This represents a 65% increase from $7.75 billion at the start of 2025. The growth has occurred over just six months, marking rapid expansion in the sector.

BlackRock BUIDL currently leads the market with $2.83 billion spread across six blockchain networks. Ethena’s synthetic cash protocol follows at $1.46 billion in total value locked.

Ondo Finance holds third place with $1.39 billion, driven by its tokenized U.S. Treasury product OUSG. The protocol also offers short-duration bond products to institutional clients.

Franklin Templeton ranks among the top six protocols with $753.8 million in assets. The traditional finance giant tokenized its money market fund on-chain through the Benji platform.

The platform allows qualified buyers to hold shares of FOBXX (Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund) as blockchain tokens. This makes Franklin Templeton one of the largest traditional finance players in tokenized assets.

Other leading protocols include Paxos Gold and Tether Gold, which dominate tokenized gold markets. OpenEden, Centrifuge, and Maple Finance target private credit and DeFi-native fixed income products.

Institutional Players Drive Market Activity

Despite the high transaction volumes, user activity remains concentrated among a small group. Dune Analytics data shows weekly transaction volumes stay high while active wallets barely exceed 300.

This pattern suggests institutional participation rather than retail investor activity. The combination of high volume and low user count typically indicates larger players entering the market.

Franklin Templeton confirmed that family offices and private banks are examining their tokenized fund products. These institutions seek on-chain settlement options without regulatory complications.

The bulk of RWA inflows continues to flow into tokenized Treasury products. ONDO Finance accounts for over 35% of total RWA TVL through its OUSG tokenized bond product.

Real estate tokenization is gaining momentum through fractional ownership models. Several platforms focus on tokenizing property stakes in emerging markets.

Climate-linked assets including carbon credits are being onboarded through protocols like Toucan and Flowcarbon. This creates new opportunities for regulatory-compliant yield products on blockchain networks.

Latin American Exchange Expands RWA Offerings

Mercado Bitcoin announced plans to tokenize $200 million in real-world assets on XRP Ledger. The Latin American crypto exchange will tokenize fixed-income and equity financial instruments.

The announcement came from Ripple, the blockchain company that launched XRP Ledger. Boston Consulting Group and Ripple forecasted the tokenized RWA market could reach $19 trillion by 2033.

Ondo Finance acquired tokenized asset firm Oasis Pro to expand its RWA presence. Oasis Pro was among the first US-regulated alternative trading systems authorized to support digital securities settlement.

Centrifuge announced plans to tokenize the S&P 500 stock market index. The blockchain firm focuses on integrating RWAs into DeFi protocols.

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink urged the SEC in January to approve stock and bond tokenization. BlackRock manages approximately $11.4 trillion in assets under management.

However, regulatory clarity remains limited for tokenized equity instruments. B2BROKER’s chief business officer John Murillo noted that tokenized equities lack many traditional shareholder rights.

“There is no direct claim on company assets, no voting rights, and no access to internal financial information,” Murillo stated. Investors must review the terms of each tokenized RWA instrument carefully.

The Genius Act, currently under Congressional consideration, could provide clearer guidelines for tokenized securities. If passed, platforms like Ondo and Franklin Templeton could issue directly to retail investors without state-level regulatory hurdles.

Ethereum continues to serve as the primary blockchain for RWA protocols despite experiments on Avalanche and Polygon. Most protocols choose Ethereum for legal clarity and mature tooling infrastructure.

Smart money continues flowing into tokenized RWAs, with legal framework clarity potentially determining whether this momentum continues through 2025.