Crypto news

The real-world asset (RWA) tokenization sector continues to demonstrate explosive growth, and recent events vividly confirm this. Grvt, a hybrid exchange combining elements of CeFi and DeFi, has announced a strategic partnership with issuer Ondo Finance. Under the agreement, the platform intends to grow its position in the tokenized product USDY to $100 million within a year. This is not just a number — it is a signal that institutional players are beginning to view RWA instruments as a full-fledged component of their liquidity.

The key feature of the deal is yield integration. An annual percentage yield (APY) of 3.5% will be included in the base rate that users already receive through the Grvt Earn product, complementing existing income sources, including the integration with Aave. In essence, the platform is transforming the reward model for providing liquidity: the client simply makes a deposit and begins earning passive income backed by U.S. government bonds.

Ondo's scale and distribution strategy

According to the latest data from the RWA.xyz aggregator, Ondo Finance's total assets under management (AUM) stand at approximately $2.59 billion. This amount is distributed across two main products: USDY, backed by short-term Treasury obligations and bank deposits, with a figure of $2.1 billion (available on 8 networks), and OUSG, designed for qualified U.S. investors, with $500 million. Grvt's planned position of $100 million represents roughly 3.8% of USDY's current AUM, making the exchange one of the largest holders of this asset.

For Ondo, this partnership addresses a critical distribution challenge. It is precisely the limited reach that serves as the main bottleneck to scaling USDY. The integration with Grvt Earn is an elegant way to expand presence without directly entering the retail market or spending resources on attracting end users. This confirms a broader trend: tokenized Treasury bonds are transitioning from exotic investments into an infrastructure layer for DeFi protocols.

It is worth recalling that Grvt operates on the ZKsync L2 solution. In September 2025, the platform raised $19 million in a Series A round, and more recently, on July 30, the GRVT token TGE took place. This is a young but ambitious project that, by all appearances, is betting on institutional adoption.

Coinbase: a new hub in Abu Dhabi

In parallel, Coinbase continues to aggressively expand the geography of its influence. On August 11, the company announced the opening of an international tokenization hub in Abu Dhabi, having obtained a financial services license from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of the Abu Dhabi Global Market. This is a strategic move that will allow the exchange to offer digital securities backed by underlying equities outside the U.S. jurisdiction.

This decision comes amid growing interest from the traditional financial sector in tokenization. Major banks and asset managers are actively moving funds, bonds, and private credit instruments onto blockchain rails. Proponents of the technology rightly note that this simplifies 24/7 trading, ensures instant settlement of transactions, and opens up new opportunities for using these assets as collateral in on-chain markets.

The new division will operate in parallel with Coinbase's derivatives business in Dubai. Thus, the company is establishing two strong footholds in the UAE, creating a solid foundation for international expansion independent of the regulatory environment in the United States.

My take: The actions of Grvt and Coinbase are two different but equally telling examples of how the RWA market is moving from pilot projects to real scaling. Grvt's $100 million investment is not just a speculative bet but the creation of a yield base for its product. Coinbase, meanwhile, is tackling an infrastructure challenge. Taken together, these events indicate that tokenization has ceased to be a niche story and is becoming a mainstream force that will shape the development of the entire industry in the coming years.