The RWA market is gaining momentum: Grvt strengthens its position in USDY by $100 million, Coinbase establishes itself in the UAE
The real-world asset (RWA) tokenization sector continues to demonstrate explosive growth, and recent events clearly confirm this. Hybrid CeDeFi platform Grvt has announced a strategic partnership with tokenized asset issuer Ondo Finance. Over the next twelve months, the exchange plans to grow its position in the USDY product to $100 million.
This is not just a figure in a press release. The annual percentage yield (APY) of 3.5% will be integrated into the base rate that users already receive through the Grvt Earn service, including yield from the Aave integration. Essentially, the platform is creating a complex reward mechanism for providing liquidity, where passive income becomes a key incentive for clients.
The scale of Grvt's ambitions becomes evident when looking at Ondo's current metrics. According to the RWA.xyz aggregator, the platform's total assets under management (AUM) amount to approximately $2.59 billion, distributed across two products:
- USDY — $2.1 billion (deployed across 8 networks);
- OUSG — $500 million (available only to qualified investors from the US).
USDY is a tokenized instrument backed by short-term US Treasury bonds and bank deposits. Grvt's planned $100 million position would account for roughly 3.8% of USDY's current AUM — this is a serious commitment capable of significantly impacting the product's liquidity.
This partnership is a vivid indicator of a broader transformation. Tokenized Treasury bonds are ceasing to be just an investment tool and are becoming a fundamental infrastructure layer for DeFi ecosystems. For Ondo, this is also an elegant solution to the distribution problem, which has long been a bottleneck in scaling USDY. The integration with Grvt Earn allows for expanded reach without directly entering the retail market.
It's worth recalling that Grvt operates on the ZKsync L2 solution. In September 2025, the platform raised $19 million in a Series A round, and on July 30, 2026, the GRVT token TGE took place.
In parallel, Coinbase is making an important step in the geopolitical dimension of the crypto industry. On August 11, the company announced the opening of an international tokenization hub in Abu Dhabi, having received financial activity approval from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of the Abu Dhabi Global Market. The license will allow Coinbase to offer digital securities backed by underlying shares.
This move is part of a global trend where traditional financial institutions are actively moving funds, bonds, and stocks onto blockchain rails. Proponents of the technology see it as a way to simplify round-the-clock transfer of securities, ensure instant settlement of trades, and use them as collateral in on-chain markets. The new division will operate in parallel with Coinbase's derivatives business in Dubai, creating two anchor bases in the UAE for expansion beyond the American market.
My view: these events mark RWA's transition from the experimentation stage to the stage of large-scale institutional integration. Grvt's investment in USDY is not a speculative bet but the construction of a foundation for a new type of yield in DeFi. And Coinbase's expansion into the UAE confirms that the Middle East is becoming a key bridge between traditional finance and the crypto economy. In the coming quarters, we will likely see even more such alliances, and those who manage to take positions now will gain a significant advantage.