Standard Chartered forecast: DeFi sector to reach $2.7 trillion by 2030
Analysts at Standard Chartered have presented an ambitious forecast: the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi protocols could soar to $2.7 trillion by the end of 2030. This represents a 37-fold increase from current levels. The main catalysts for this explosive growth will be tokenized real-world assets (RWA) and further improvements in on-chain protocols.
Currently, only 3% of the total stablecoin supply and 10% of RWA volume are utilized in DeFi. By 2030, the share of these assets used in protocols is expected to reach 30%. Achieving the target of $2.7 trillion will require a ninefold increase in the share of tokenized value involved in decentralized finance.
However, the path to such scaling is not without obstacles. Chris Kim, head of Axis, highlights the issue of liquidity fragmentation: issuing the same asset on different blockchains leads to scattered pools and higher operational costs. Meanwhile, Oya Celiktemur, director of sales at Ondo Finance, rightly notes that tokenization itself is not a "magic wand" for turning illiquid assets into liquid ones—it is merely a tool that requires a well-designed market mechanism.
Uniswap as a hub for institutional RWA trading
The Standard Chartered report particularly emphasizes the role of Uniswap. According to analysts, this decentralized exchange could become a key hub for RWA trading. Institutional investors are likely to choose it due to its strong reputation, security, and liquidity depth. Partnerships with traditional finance, according to forecasts, will help Uniswap significantly narrow the market capitalization gap with centralized giant Coinbase.
It is worth noting that this trend is already being confirmed in practice: in June, Bitwise's chief investment officer, Matt Hougan, stated that advisors are shifting focus from bitcoin to stablecoins and RWAs, further confirming the start of a large-scale institutional migration.
Expert opinion: The $2.7 trillion forecast looks ambitious but not fantastical. The key factor will be the industry's ability to solve the problem of liquidity fragmentation across blockchains. If projects like Uniswap can become a unified hub for institutional RWAs, we will indeed see exponential growth comparable to the DeFi boom of 2020-2021, but on a qualitatively different, institutional foundation.