1. In-depth analysis of the RWA track: the growth engine of the crypto market in 2025
In the past few years, decentralized finance (DeFi) has risen rapidly, creating a financial ecosystem that can operate without the traditional banking system. However, a core problem facing the DeFi field is that the operation of the entire market is still highly dependent on crypto assets (such as BTC, ETH and stablecoins), lacking sufficient real-world assets (RWA) support, making the development of DeFi always limited by the volatility of the crypto market itself. The emergence of the RWA track is breaking this limitation. It combines real-world financial assets with blockchain technology, which can not only improve the stability of on-chain financial products, but also bring huge liquidity increments to the entire market. This track is becoming a key bridge for institutional investors and mainstream financial institutions to enter the crypto industry, and may even drive the entire blockchain industry into a new growth cycle.
The core concept of RWA is to digitize various types of assets in the traditional financial market (such as bonds, real estate, stocks, artworks, private equity, etc.) and convert them into tokenized assets that can be traded, mortgaged or borrowed on the chain through blockchain technology. This process not only enhances the liquidity of assets, but also reduces the friction costs in traditional financial markets, such as long transaction settlement time, high intermediary costs, and limited liquidity. Taking the bond market as an example, traditional bond transactions often involve multiple financial institutions and regulatory departments, and the intermediate links are cumbersome, resulting in high transaction costs. RWA tokenization can achieve real-time settlement on the chain, greatly improve transaction efficiency, and reduce transaction costs. At the same time, due to the transparency and traceability of the blockchain, the management of RWA assets is more transparent, which can effectively reduce fraud and improper operations in the market.
With the maturity of blockchain technology and the growth of market demand, the RWA track is attracting more and more institutional participation. For example, BlackRock, one of the worlds largest asset management companies, recently launched a blockchain-based tokenized fund BUIDL, which mainly holds stable assets such as US bonds and provides a more efficient trading method through blockchain. In addition, traditional financial giants such as Franklin Templeton are also actively trying to tokenize some of their fund products to enable investors to participate in the market more conveniently. These cases show that the RWA track is no longer just a crypto narrative, but is becoming a core trend in the digitalization of the global financial market.
From a technical perspective, the development of RWA relies on the support of multiple key infrastructures, including blockchain underlying networks, smart contracts, oracles, decentralized identities (DIDs), and compliance management. First of all, as the carrier of RWA assets, the public chain determines the security and operability of the assets. At present, Ethereum is still the preferred network for RWA tokenization. Many institutions deploy smart contracts on Ethereum to manage RWA assets. At the same time, L2 solutions (such as Arbitrum and Optimism) are also becoming popular choices for RWA asset transactions to reduce transaction costs and increase throughput. In addition, public chains such as Solana, Avalanche, and Polkadot are also exploring application scenarios for RWA assets, striving to seize market share in this field.
From the perspective of market size, the potential of the RWA track is extremely huge. According to research by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the market size of the RWA track is expected to reach $16 trillion by 2030, far exceeding the total market value of the entire current crypto market. At present, the global real estate market is worth about $300 trillion, but most real estate investments require high capital and have low liquidity. If 1% of the assets are tokenized, a $3 trillion RWA market can be created. Similarly, the global bond market is worth more than $120 trillion. If 1% enters the blockchain, a $1.2 trillion emerging market will be formed.
Institutional funds are pouring into the RWA track at an accelerated pace, indicating that this track is no longer a pure crypto experiment, but is becoming an important part of the global financial system. In 2025, as the Trump administration shows unprecedented support for the crypto industry, this trend will continue and develop. For investors, the RWA track not only provides a new market opportunity, but may also become an important bridge for the integration of the crypto market and the traditional financial market. In the next few years, with the improvement of more infrastructure, the implementation of the regulatory framework, and the further layout of mainstream financial institutions, the RWA track is expected to become a new growth engine for the blockchain industry and even promote the digital transformation of the entire financial market.
Overall, the rise of the RWA track not only represents the maturity of blockchain technology and the expansion of application scenarios, but also means that the global financial market is entering a new stage of decentralization and efficiency. For market participants, how to seize the opportunity of RWA asset tokenization and lay out infrastructure and key protocols will become the core proposition of the development of the crypto industry in the next few years.
2. Current market environment: macroeconomics and catalysts for RWA development
Against the backdrop of increasing uncertainty in the current global economy, changes in the liquidity cycle, and the booming digital asset market, the RWA (Real-World Assets) track is becoming one of the most important growth points in the crypto industry. With the adjustment of the Federal Reserves monetary policy, the continued impact of inflationary pressure, the volatility of the debt market, and the increased participation of institutions in the crypto market, the development of RWA has ushered in an unprecedented opportunity. At the same time, the shortcomings of the traditional financial system and the increasing maturity of DeFi (decentralized finance) have also promoted the pace of migration of real-world assets to the chain. This article will deeply explore the development catalysts of the RWA track from five aspects: the global macroeconomic situation, liquidity environment, policy and regulatory trends, institutional entry, and the maturity of the DeFi ecosystem.
2.1 Global macroeconomic situation: changes in inflation, interest rates and market risk aversion
The global macroeconomic environment is one of the most core variables affecting the development of RWA. In recent years, due to the weak economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic, intensified geopolitical conflicts, supply chain issues, and central bank policy adjustments, there is great uncertainty in global economic growth. Among them, changes in inflation and interest rate policies have directly affected capital liquidity and investors asset allocation strategies, and have also indirectly promoted the development of the RWA track.
First, from the perspective of inflation, the Feds aggressive interest rate hike policy in the past two years has had a profound impact on the global market. Since 2022, the Fed has raised interest rates several times in a row to curb high inflation rates, leading to a tightening of global liquidity. In a high-interest rate environment, investors risk appetite has decreased, and traditional financial markets have been hit, resulting in a greater tendency for capital to flow into low-risk, high-yield asset classes. This has prompted investors to start paying attention to assets such as treasury bonds, gold, and real estate, and the tokenization of these assets has become an important growth point for the RWA track. For example, the tokenization of U.S. debt (such as the OUSG token provided by Ondo Finance) has become an important investment tool in the crypto market due to its high annualized rate of return (more than 5%), attracting a large amount of DeFi capital inflows. Secondly, as the global debt crisis intensifies, the RWA track has become an important option for capital hedging. As of 2024, the total global debt has exceeded 300 trillion US dollars, of which the U.S. Treasury debt exceeds 34 trillion US dollars, and the fiscal deficit has reached a record high. In this case, investors confidence in the traditional financial market has been impacted, and they have sought more transparent and efficient financial infrastructure. The trustlessness, borderlessness, and low cost provided by blockchain technology make the on-chain RWA assets the best solution. In addition, in a high inflation environment, the demand for gold and commodities has surged, and gold tokens (such as PAXG and XAUT) have also become popular assets in the crypto market. Overall, global economic uncertainty has increased investors demand for safe-haven assets, and the innovation of the RWA track has enabled these assets to enter the crypto market more easily, thereby driving the explosive growth of this track.
2.2 Liquidity environment: Fed policy shift and changes in market risk appetite
The rapid development of the RWA track is inseparable from the changes in the global liquidity environment. In 2022-2023, the Federal Reserve implemented a sharp interest rate hike, which led to a severe tightening of liquidity in the global market. However, since 2024, with the easing of inflationary pressure, the Federal Reserve has entered the end of the interest rate hike and may even start a rate cut cycle. The market liquidity expectations have changed, which has greatly promoted the RWA track.
First, the adjustment of the Federal Reserves monetary policy has increased the markets demand for stable income assets. The DeFi ecosystem experienced a period of high volatility and high risk in 2021-2022, but current investors prefer low-risk, predictable income products, and the RWA track just provides this solution. For example, bond tokenization and private equity market tokenization allow investors to enjoy a more stable and compliant income model in the DeFi ecosystem, which is one of the important reasons for the outbreak of RWA in 2024. Secondly, from the perspective of the crypto market, BTC will usher in the passage of spot ETFs in 2024, and institutional capital will continue to flow in, which will expand the capital pool of the entire crypto market. In addition to BTC, these funds also need to find more stable investment targets. RWA assets have become an important allocation direction for institutional funds because of their deep binding with traditional financial markets. For example, asset management giants such as BlackRock and Fidelity have begun to pay attention to the RWA field and launched related investment products, which will further promote the growth of the RWA track. In addition, as DeFis interest rates decline, the yield advantage of the RWA track has become more and more obvious. In 2021-2022, the yield of the DeFi ecosystem was generally as high as over 10%, but in 2024, the stablecoin yield of most DeFi protocols has dropped to between 2% and 4%, while the US Treasury yield of the RWA track remains above 5%, making RWA assets a new pillar of DeFi income and attracting a large amount of capital inflows.
2.3 Policy and regulatory trends: Compliance progress in the RWA track
In the development history of the crypto industry, regulatory issues have always been the focus of market attention, and the rise of the RWA track is precisely because it is more compliant than other DeFi tracks and can meet the needs of institutional investors. Regulators in various countries have gradually accepted the innovative model of asset tokenization and explored how to support the development of the RWA ecosystem through legal frameworks.
First, the U.S. SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) have conducted research on areas such as security tokenization and bond tokenization, and have allowed some institutions to issue tokenized assets under a compliance framework. For example, Securitize has been approved by the SEC to issue blockchain-based security tokens, which provides a good example for the compliance of the RWA track. Secondly, Europe, Japan, Singapore and other places are relatively open to the RWA track. For example, Switzerlands SIX Digital Exchange (SDX) and Germanys Boerse Stuttgart Digital Exchange (BSDEX) both support tokenized stock trading, and the Singapore government is also actively promoting the on-chain development of RWA assets. These policy benefits make institutional investors more willing to enter the RWA track, providing a solid foundation for its development.
2.4 Institutional Entry and Improvement of DeFi Ecosystem Maturity
In addition to macroeconomics and policy supervision, the entry of institutions and the maturity of the DeFi ecosystem are also important driving factors for the growth of the RWA track. Traditional institutions have begun to pay attention to the integration of DeFi and TradFi (traditional finance), and many leading asset management companies, banks, and hedge funds have begun to study how to issue and trade RWA assets on the blockchain. At the same time, the DeFi ecosystem has gradually shifted from high volatility, high risk to stable returns, compliant development, and the RWA track has become the core beneficiary of this trend. More and more DeFi protocols (such as MakerDAO, Aave, Maple Finance) are deeply integrated with RWA assets, which makes the growth of the RWA track more sustainable.
In summary, the outbreak of the RWA track is not only the result of market demand, but also the product of the joint effect of global macroeconomics, policy supervision, liquidity environment and DeFi ecological evolution. Driven by these catalytic factors, the RWA track is expected to become one of the most important engines of crypto market growth in 2024-2025.
III. Analysis of the main categories and core projects of the RWA track
As the crypto market continues to mature and institutional funds are accelerating, the rise of the RWA track has become a major trend. The core goal of the RWA track is to issue, trade and manage assets in traditional financial markets, such as bonds, real estate, commodities, private equity, etc., in a blockchain-tokenized manner, making them more liquid, more accessible, and able to integrate with the DeFi ecosystem. This not only brings the convenience of decentralized finance to traditional assets, but also provides a more stable source of income for the DeFi ecosystem. The RWA track has rich application scenarios, and different types of real-world assets have different forms of expression on the chain, which can generally be divided into the following categories: bond RWA, commodity and bulk asset RWA, real estate RWA, equity and private equity market RWA, infrastructure and supply chain RWA. In this section, we will explore the core logic of these categories in detail and analyze representative projects in the current market to gain a deeper understanding of the layout of the RWA track.
3.1 Bond RWA: On-chain U.S. Treasury bonds, government bonds, and corporate bonds
The bond market is one of the most important asset classes in the global financial market, especially U.S. Treasury bonds (UST), which are regarded as one of the safest assets in the world and are widely used as risk hedging and reserve assets. As the DeFi ecosystem matures, more and more institutions are trying to introduce bond assets into the blockchain to achieve transparency of returns, increase liquidity, and the possibility of global transactions.
At present, the scale of the global debt market has exceeded 300 trillion US dollars, of which US debt accounts for a very high proportion, while the total market value of the crypto market is only 2-3 trillion US dollars. If the bond assets of the RWA track can be successfully introduced into the DeFi ecosystem, it will greatly change the market landscape. The liquidity of the traditional bond market is limited by factors such as trading time, market access threshold, and settlement cycle, while on-chain bonds can provide 7*24-hour trading, borderless access, and second-level settlement, making it an important supplement to the DeFi ecosystem.
Analysis of representative projects: Currently in the RWA track, the main players in the bond tokenization field include Ondo Finance, Maple Finance, Backed Finance, etc.
Ondo Finance: Currently one of the most active bond tokenization projects, it focuses on the tokenization of US bonds and provides OUSG (Ondo Short-Term US Government Bond Fund), allowing DeFi users to obtain returns similar to short-term US bond ETFs on the chain, with an annualized return rate of more than 5%. Ondos tokenized bonds are managed by compliant institutions, comply with US securities laws, and can be freely circulated on the chain.
Maple Finance: Initially focused on the DeFi loan market, it later expanded to the RWA track, providing on-chain debt financing services. Maple allows institutional investors to issue bonds in the DeFi ecosystem, providing a stable source of income for the crypto market.
Backed Finance: Launched a variety of bond ETF tokenized products, such as $bIB 01 (corresponding to iShares Short-Term US Treasury ETF), providing investors with on-chain versions of mainstream bond ETFs in the traditional financial market, lowering the transaction threshold and improving accessibility.
The rise of the bond RWA track not only meets the needs of traditional institutions, but also brings new sources of income to the DeFi ecosystem, further promoting the growth of RWA assets.
3.2 Commodities and bulk assets RWA: On-chaining of commodities such as gold and crude oil
The commodity market is another important RWA track, especially gold, which has become one of the earliest tokenized assets on the blockchain due to its long-term role as a store of value. The tokenization of commodities allows investors to trade more conveniently and can be directly integrated with the DeFi ecosystem to improve the liquidity of assets.
Gold has long been an inflation hedge tool, and with the increasing uncertainty in the global economy, the market demand for gold continues to rise. However, the traditional gold market has high transaction costs and a complicated delivery process, while tokenized gold assets (such as PAXG and XAUT) can provide seamless cross-border transactions, smart contract management, and DeFi staking, making it an important asset class in the crypto market.
Analysis of representative projects:
PAXG (Paxos Gold): A gold token issued by Paxos. Each PAXG represents 1 ounce of physical gold in the London vault and can be exchanged for physical gold at any time. PAXG is currently the gold token with the highest transaction volume on the chain and is widely used in DeFi staking and trading.
XAUT (Tether Gold): A gold token issued by Tether, also pegged to physical gold, allowing users to trade seamlessly around the world and participate in the DeFi ecosystem.
Commodities DAO: Explore the possibility of putting more commodities (such as oil, copper, soybeans, etc.) on the chain to enable the commodity market to operate more transparently and efficiently.
The tokenization of gold and other commodities is changing the way commodity markets are traded, making them more open and bringing a stronger inflation-resistant asset class to the crypto market.
3.3 Real Estate RWA: A Breakthrough in Asset Liquidity
The real estate market is one of the largest real estate markets in the world. However, due to high transaction costs, low liquidity and other issues, the traditional real estate market is difficult to integrate with the DeFi ecosystem. The tokenization of real estate in the RWA track allows global investors to participate in the real estate market through blockchain, breaking down regional and financial barriers.
Analysis of representative projects:
RealT: Tokenize U.S. real estate assets. Each token represents partial ownership of a real estate asset. Investors can earn rental income by holding tokens.
LABS Group: Focuses on the Asian real estate tokenization market, allowing individual investors to participate in high-end real estate investment with a very low threshold.
The development of the real estate RWA track has greatly improved the liquidity of the real estate market. It has also provided new pledge assets for DeFi and promoted the growth of the entire ecosystem.
3.4 Private Equity and Fund RWA: Making VC Investment More Transparent
Traditional VC investment and private equity markets have long had problems with high barriers to entry and low transparency, and the tokenization of the RWA track has made these assets more liquid. For example, Hamilton Lane, a well-known asset management company, issued tokenized funds through blockchain, allowing investors to participate in the private equity market with a lower threshold.
In addition, compliant tokenization platforms such as Securitize are helping more traditional institutions to put equity assets on the chain, enabling them to be traded in the secondary market and improving liquidity.
4. Challenges and potential breakthroughs in the RWA track
In the past few years, the RWA track has gradually attracted the attention of many blockchain industries. RWA aims to digitize and incorporate real-world assets such as real estate, bonds, stocks, commodities, etc. into the blockchain ecosystem, so that they can be traded, pledged, and borrowed on decentralized financial (DeFi) platforms. This track has great potential, but it also faces many challenges. How to overcome these challenges will be the key to determining its sustainable development.
First, one of the most significant challenges is the issue of legal compliance. Traditional assets are usually subject to the legal and regulatory frameworks of various countries. The introduction of these assets into the blockchain environment after digitization may face regulatory scrutiny and policy adaptability issues. The current financial regulatory policies of many countries do not clearly stipulate crypto assets and blockchain technology. Especially when it comes to cross-border asset transfers, legal uncertainty increases the risks of enterprises. For example, how to legally transfer traditional assets such as real estate or bonds to the blockchain on a global scale and ensure compliance under different jurisdictions requires not only the in-depth involvement of legal experts, but also the revision of the legal framework of relevant countries. In addition, the management and ownership transfer issues of digital assets may also bring complex regulatory challenges, involving how to verify the actual existence of assets and the legitimacy of their owners.
In addition, technical challenges cannot be ignored. Although blockchain technology has obvious advantages in data immutability and decentralization, how to effectively convert real-world assets into digital form remains a complex issue. This not only involves how to tokenize physical assets (i.e. convert them into digital tokens), but also requires ensuring that these tokens can accurately reflect the value and liquidity of assets. At present, the digitization process of assets often needs to rely on traditional third-party intermediaries for evaluation and endorsement, such as banks or legal institutions, which brings about a contradiction between the concept of decentralization and traditional centralized institutions. In addition, the custody and management of assets is also a major technical problem. Although blockchain can provide transparency and automation, how to ensure the security and compliance of assets, especially in the absence of centralized intermediaries, is a problem that must be solved. Blockchains smart contracts can greatly simplify the asset transaction process, but once a loophole or error occurs, it may lead to huge asset losses, so the security and auditing of smart contracts are very important.
For innovators in the RWA track, how to effectively combine the advantages of blockchain with the needs of the real world is the key. Especially on the issue of asset liquidity, the decentralized nature of blockchain can make assets more liquid, but real-world assets often face the problem of insufficient liquidity. For example, the transaction cycle of high-value assets such as real estate is long, and the market participants are relatively limited. How to use blockchain to break the liquidity bottleneck of traditional assets, allow these assets to flow globally, and become liquid assets on DeFi platforms is one of the potential breakthroughs in the RWA track. By introducing the tokenization of assets, a real estate project, bonds and other assets can be cut into multiple small shares, thereby lowering the transaction threshold, attracting more investors to participate, and making assets more liquid. In addition, the tokenization of assets can also improve the transparency of the market. Investors can track the flow of assets through the public records of the blockchain, reducing the problem of information asymmetry in the market.
In addition to legal and technical challenges, market acceptance is also an important obstacle facing the RWA track. Although blockchain has made remarkable achievements in the fields of cryptocurrency and DeFi, blockchain and digital assets are still a relatively unfamiliar concept for traditional investors. Especially for investors who are accustomed to the traditional financial system and asset classes, digitized assets may not necessarily gain their trust immediately. In order to break this barrier, the RWA track needs to establish a closer partnership with traditional financial institutions. A potential breakthrough point is that as more and more traditional financial institutions begin to accept blockchain technology and explore cooperation with crypto assets, the RWA track also has the opportunity to gain support from the resources and credibility of these institutions. For example, banks and asset management companies can help promote the market acceptance of RWA by endorsing digital assets or cooperating with blockchain platforms.
In addition, potential breakthroughs in the RWA track include multi-chain interoperability and liquidity innovation. At present, many RWA projects rely on Ethereum or other mainstream public chains, but interoperability between different public chains is still a big challenge. If RWA can achieve multi-chain interoperability, cross-chain asset transfers will become smoother and the value flow of assets will be greatly improved. To achieve this, cross-chain protocols and bridging technology will become important breakthroughs in the RWA track. This will not only improve the liquidity of assets, but also expand RWAs market share and attract more investors and users.
5. RWA Future Outlook and Investment Strategy
As blockchain technology continues to mature and develop, the RWA track is undergoing a subtle change. The integration of traditional assets and the crypto world will not only supplement digital assets, but may also reshape the global financial system. The future of RWA will bring huge market opportunities, but also come with complex challenges. In order to succeed in this field, investors need to have a deep understanding of the development trends of the industry and design a reasonable investment strategy.
The future outlook for RWA is full of potential, especially as blockchain technology becomes more and more of a bridge between the traditional financial system. As blockchain technology is gradually adopted by financial institutions, the tokenization of traditional assets will become more and more common. Asset tokenization is expected to become mainstream in the next few years, especially in areas such as real estate, bonds, equities, and commodities. The increasing openness of traditional financial markets to digital assets will also accelerate the growth of RWA. Institutions such as banks, insurance companies, and asset management companies are exploring how to use blockchain technology to automate and make asset management more transparent while reducing operating costs and improving efficiency. Especially in those capital-intensive industries, the market potential of RWA will be more significant, and digitized assets can transcend geographical restrictions, providing unprecedented investment opportunities for global investors.
The future prospects of RWA are closely related to the digitalization process of the entire financial system. As the financial market increasingly transforms towards digitalization and automation, RWA will gradually become an important part of the global capital market. With the advancement of technology and the maturity of the market, there may be more opportunities for industry integration and mergers and acquisitions in the RWA track in the future, and some leading RWA platforms and projects may become unicorns in the blockchain industry. In this process, investors can not only obtain direct asset returns, but also participate in the dividends of blockchain financial innovation. Therefore, there will be more and more investment opportunities in the RWA track, and investors need to grasp market trends in a timely manner and flexibly adjust investment strategies to obtain the greatest returns in this innovative market.
