RWA Panorama Analysis: Global Market Trends in 2025

Introduction

With the rapid development of the global digital economy, RWA is transforming traditional assets into digital tokens through blockchain technology, significantly enhancing asset liquidity, transparency, and accessibility. This innovation is considered a key force driving the digital transformation of financial markets. Especially in 2025, as institutional funds accelerate their influx and the regulatory environment gradually clarifies, the RWA market is showing rapid growth momentum. This report aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of RWA, including its development history, current status, and future potential.

1. Definition of RWA, Development History and Technical Path

1.1 Definition of RWA

RWA refers to the process of utilizing blockchain technology to convert real-world assets ( such as real estate, commodities, debt rights, intellectual property, etc. ) into digital tokens. These tokens represent ownership or revenue rights of the assets and can be traded and managed on the blockchain. The core objective is to address issues such as ownership confirmation difficulties, low transaction efficiency, and insufficient liquidity in traditional asset transactions through the immutability, traceability, and programmability of smart contracts on the blockchain.

From a technical implementation perspective, RWA tokenization includes three key stages:

• Off-chain Rights Confirmation: Completing asset ownership verification and value assessment through legal compliance procedures.

• Asset Mapping on the Chain: Mapping asset rights to the blockchain to generate corresponding tokens.

• On-chain governance: Achieving automated management of profit distribution, staking settlement, etc. through smart contracts.

Compared to traditional asset securitization ( ABS ), RWA has similarities in risk isolation and cash flow restructuring, but its technological dependencies require additional assessments of factors such as blockchain architecture, smart contract security, and cross-chain interoperability.

1.2 Development History of RWA

• Early exploration ( 2017-2020: The concept of RWA began to emerge around 2017, with early projects mainly focusing on the tokenization of real estate and artwork. For example, the Securitize platform attempted to put assets on-chain to explore the feasibility of tokenization.

• Institutional Entry ) 2021-2023: In 2021, DeFi protocols such as MakerDAO began to incorporate RWA into their ecosystems, allowing users to borrow against real-world assets as collateral. By 2023, the RWA market size reached $5 billion, with traditional financial institutions like Goldman Sachs and Franklin launching tokenized products, marking the entry of RWA into the mainstream.

• Explosive growth ( 2024-2025: Traditional financial institutions such as BlackRock and Goldman Sachs are accelerating their layout in RWA, driving rapid market growth. The RWA market size has surpassed $23 billion, becoming one of the important directions for blockchain applications.

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2. Market Size and Growth Trends

) 2.1 Global RWA Market Size

According to RWA.xyz statistics, as of the end of May 2025, the total value of on-chain RWA worldwide is approximately $23 billion. Among them, in March 2025, the TVL of RWA protocols first broke through the $10 billion mark, reaching about $10.4 billion on March 21. During the same period, the RWA sector experienced significant year-on-year growth, with a TVL growth rate of nearly 140% from the beginning of 2025 to now. These data indicate that the RWA market has shown explosive growth in the past two years.

The locked amount of mainstream RWA protocols has significantly increased with a TVL of (. For example:

MakerDAO)RWA Vaults### - At the beginning of 2025, its RWA collateral vault TVL was approximately $1.3 billion.

Ondo Finance - TVL is approximately $1.283 billion.

Centrifuge - TVL is approximately $441 million.

In addition, BlackRock's on-chain U.S. Treasury fund BUIDL has also jumped to the top position, with a TVL of about $1.4 billion, followed closely by MakerDAO with approximately $1.3 billion. These figures reflect the dominance of institution-backed projects and quality protocols in the RWA sector.

( 2.2 Growth Trends and Forecasts

Many research institutions have made forecasts for the RWA market size in 2030 and provided corresponding estimates for the compound annual growth rate )CAGR(. Boston Consulting Group )BCG### once estimated that by 2030, the global asset tokenization scale could reach approximately $16 trillion. McKinsey and others also predict about $2 trillion. International banking giant Citigroup expects the scale to be in the range of $4-5 trillion by 2030, while digital asset management firm 21.co provided a wide range of $3.5-10 trillion. In the crypto industry, analyst Jamie Coutts pointed out that if the growth rate remains around 121% for the next five years, the RWA tokenization scale by 2030 will be approximately $1.3 trillion. The corresponding compound annual growth rates for the above forecasts range from several percentage points ( at the trillion level ) to several hundred percentage points ( above the ten trillion level ), reflecting the dual potential and uncertainty in the RWA market. For example, growing from several billion at the end of 2023 to Coutts' estimated $1.3 trillion corresponds to an annual growth rate of about 120% or more, while reaching BCG's expectation of $16 trillion would require an annual growth rate far exceeding 200%.

Main Growth Trends

Institutional participation accelerates: Traditional financial giants are entering the RWA arena. Taking BlackRock as an example, its Ethereum-based national debt fund BUIDL will launch in 2024, and by 2025, its scale is expected to exceed $2.5 billion, capturing 41% of the global on-chain national debt tokenization market share. In addition, a certain platform submitted an RWA exchange framework proposal to the SEC in 2025, expecting to reach $10 billion in TVL within three years. Moreover, institutions such as Fidelity, Goldman Sachs, and Franklin Templeton have launched or plan to launch compliant RWA products, driving market demand.

Technological evolution drives efficiency improvement: The Ethereum ecosystem still occupies a dominant position in tokenized infrastructure. As of May 2025, tokenized assets on Ethereum account for approximately 55% of the global total. At the same time, various high-performance links and scaling solutions are continuously emerging. For example, a certain platform plans to build an RWA platform using a hybrid chain architecture of Solana and Base, which can achieve sub-10 microsecond matching and 30,000 TPS throughput, significantly enhancing settlement efficiency and reducing costs. In addition, Layer2 networks ( such as Arbitrum Nova) and zero-knowledge proof technologies are being used to reduce RWA transaction costs and enhance privacy.

Regulatory policies are tightening: Regulatory agencies in various countries are beginning to formulate rules related to RWA, providing institutional support for market development. A certain platform has submitted a complete proposal to the US SEC for compliance requirements such as tokenized asset federal licensing and on-chain auditing, aiming to establish standards for token issuance and trading. The EU's "Crypto Assets Market Act" (MiCA) and other regulations are also clarifying the classification and compliance standards for RWA tokens. At the same time, places like Hong Kong and the United States have piloted allowing certain threshold investors to participate in RWA through compliant platforms, such as investing in government bonds and real estate through compliant stablecoins and security tokens. Overall, the maturity of policy regulation has enhanced institutional confidence, providing crucial support for the rapid expansion of the RWA market.

3. RWA Technical Path and Core Standards

( 3.1 Technical Path

The technical implementation path of RWA typically includes the following key steps and modules:

1. Asset On-Chain and Tokenization Process (Asset Tokenization Workflow )

• Asset selection and confirmation of rights: Clarify the value, ownership boundaries, and transferability of off-chain assets;

• Legality Audit and SPV Establishment: Asset custody through custodians or the establishment of a Special Purpose Vehicle ( SPV, Special Purpose Vehicle ).

• Token Minting ###: Generate corresponding tokens according to standards such as ERC-20, ERC-721 or ERC-3643;

• Off-chain data access ) Oracle/IOT (: Real-time update of asset status through oracle, IoT, or third-party auditing;

• Value Guarantee Mechanism: Maintains the anchoring relationship between tokens and real assets through methods such as custody, insurance, and over-collateralization.

2. RWA supported protocol technology stack ( RWA Protocol Stack )

( 3.2 Core Standards and Tools

• ERC-3643 )T-REX): One of the most mature RWA token standards, supporting identity whitelisting, regulatory control, and permission management;

• ERC-1400: A compliance framework for security tokens that supports modular regulatory compliance design.

• Chainlink / Pyth Oracles: Provide reliable synchronization of off-chain data such as prices and asset statuses.

• Multi-signature/Custody tools: such as Gnosis Safe, Anchorage Custody, etc., to ensure asset security and governance compliance;

• TEE( Trusted Execution Environment ): Ensure that sensitive off-chain data can still operate privately and securely during on-chain interactions.

The vision of RWA is to bring hundreds of trillions of dollars of real-world assets into the on-chain financial system, unlocking their liquidity and composability, and building a new generation of more efficient, transparent, and inclusive financial infrastructure. Its technological path must address the dual challenges of "on-chain programmability" and "off-chain trusted connections," while also considering legal compliance, auditing mechanisms, system security, and market participation pathways.

4. Typical RWA Asset Classes and Real-World Applications

4.1 Typical RWA Asset Types

The on-chain path of real-world assets is diversifying, with mainstream RWA projects focusing on the following types of assets, relying on the credit and yield structures of real-world assets to achieve tokenization mapping. These assets can roughly be divided into the following four categories:

1. Debt-related assets ( real-world securities )

This type of RWA project is usually linked to real-world debt instruments ( such as U.S. Treasury bonds, corporate bonds, accounts receivable, etc., ) representing one of the most mature and mainstream tracks, with high transparency, strong compliance attributes, and predictable returns.

Typical project:

• Ondo Finance: Issues tokens such as OUSG, with U.S. Treasury bond ETFs as the underlying assets.

• Maple Finance: Connects real-world credit demand with DeFi liquidity providers through structured credit products.

• Centrifuge: Tokenize accounts receivable, invoices, and other assets on-chain, and connect to the Tinlake protocol for lending.

2. Real estate assets ( such as real estate )

By valuing real estate and rental income, real estate assets can be split into tradable tokens for DeFi staking or asset allocation, providing good asset security and cash flow foundation.

Typical Projects:

• RealT: Provides tokenized holdings based on U.S. real estate, allowing token holders to earn rental income.

• Propy: Real estate transactions and property registration on the blockchain, achieving transparency in the home buying process.

• Lofty: A fractional real estate investment platform that supports proportional dividends and asset management.

3. Commodity assets ### gold, carbon credits, oil, etc. (

Issuing tokens linked to their value through physical goods or certificates, used for value storage, risk hedging, or trading circulation.

Typical projects:

• PAXG: A gold-backed stablecoin issued by Paxos, with each token corresponding to a certain amount of physical gold.

• OpenCarbon: Carbon credit tokenization platform that puts carbon reduction certificates on the blockchain.

• Tangible: Tokenize physical assets such as alcoholic beverages and watches for trading and storage.

4. Other real asset categories ) copyrights, insurance, invoices, intellectual property, etc. (

It belongs to the early stage of RWA exploration, representing assets with relatively weak liquidity but strong innovation, suitable for incubation by specific vertical platforms.

Typical projects:

• Re: Insurance Risk Exposure Tokenization Platform, providing on-chain reinsurance for DeFi.

• IP3 / Story Protocol: Exploring solutions to put intellectual property value on the blockchain.

• Goldfinch: A credit lending platform that supports microloans in developing markets.

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) 4.2 Practical Applications of RWA

(1) Investment-oriented RWA: Yield anchoring of virtual assets

Investment Orientation