The RWA market has surpassed the $51 billion mark: tokenized assets show explosive growth of 40%.
The sector of tokenized real-world assets (RWA) is confidently gaining momentum, despite the overall correction in the cryptocurrency market. Since the beginning of the year, the capitalization of this segment has grown by 40%, reaching an impressive $51 billion. This signals that institutional interest in digitizing traditional assets is only intensifying.
The key growth driver is the rapid increase in the number of participants. The number of RWA token holders has surged by 60%, exceeding 917,000. The leaders in terms of locked funds remain the platforms Figure ($18.9 billion) and Securitize ($4.3 billion), which essentially form the infrastructural backbone of this market.
Market Structure and Dynamics
An analysis of asset distribution shows that the largest share of RWAs comes from private credit — 47%. This is followed by U.S. Treasury bonds (30%) and precious metals (9%). Interestingly, the highest activity is concentrated in two blockchain networks: Provenance (39%) and Ethereum (33%).
The most impressive dynamics are demonstrated by the segment of tokenized stocks. Over six months, its volume grew by 130% — to $1.6 billion. The monthly transaction volume in this segment reached $5.3 billion in June, compared to just $500 million in September last year. This is a tenfold increase over nine months.
Three Tokenization Models
Three approaches to stock tokenization have clearly emerged in the industry. The first is infrastructural, where brokers (e.g., Robinhood) buy stocks and issue tokens against them, enabling round-the-clock trading but without transferring voting rights. The second is the settlement layer, where blockchain replaces traditional accounting systems, and investors receive full ownership rights (the Figure and Securitize model). The third is the hybrid model offered by Coinbase, which combines stock tokens, derivatives, and crypto assets for users outside the U.S.
Regulatory Prospects
Further explosive growth of the sector directly depends on the SEC's position. The regulator has already approved pilot projects by NYSE and Nasdaq for trading tokenized securities. A key catalyst could be the so-called "innovation exemption," which would officially permit trading such assets within the U.S.
Expert opinion: The RWA market is undergoing a structural shift. A 40% growth with a 60% increase in the number of holders indicates that we are not seeing a speculative bubble, but the formation of a new institutional infrastructure. The 130% growth in stock tokenization over six months is just the tip of the iceberg. Once regulatory uncertainty in the U.S. is resolved, this sector could grow by an order of magnitude.