Tokenization for real-world assets (RWA) is gaining significant momentum, with industry projections indicating some $50 billion in value will be reached this year.
At the outset, RWA tokenization represents real-world assets such as bonds, real estate, or private credit as digital tokens on a blockchain, enabling these traditionally illiquid assets to be traded and managed more efficiently.
In effect, tokenization allows traditional financial institutions to fractionalize ownership, automate compliance, and access markets around the clock.
“RWA tokenization has made significant strides recently. The real question for 2025: How many assets will integrate into this system, and how quickly will global adoption unfold?” Moataz Elsayed, co-founder of non-custodial wallet Okse, told Decrypt.
Total value locked in tokenized assets reached over $176 billion in 2024, marking a 32% increase year-to-date, with non-stablecoin assets growing by 53%, a 2024 report from the Tokenized Asset Coalition (TAC) shows.
BlackRock paves the way
RWA tokenization is “transforming finance” with BlackRock “driving adoption” through stablecoins and other permissioned services, Neal Wen, head of global business development at Kronos Research, told Decrypt.
“Real estate, treasuries, and other assets are becoming liquid on the blockchain, unlocking over $18 billion in market value with significant growth potential on the horizon.”
BlackRock launched its tokenized fund in March last year, followed by other institutions such as Franklin Templeton launching on Arbitrum, an Ethereum Layer-2 network.
Major institutions such as McKinsey claim that tokenization presents financial institutions with a “strategic advantage” while cautioning them about “pessimistic and optimistic scenarios” that could range between $1 trillion to $4 trillion valuations for the sector by 2030.
Major financial institutions entering the space further evidenced the sector’s growth. Standard Chartered projected $30 trillion in tokenized assets by 2034, while Boston Consulting Group estimated $16 trillion in tokenized illiquid assets by 2030.
Decentralized credit marketplace Clearpool shared with Decrypt that Ozean, the RWA-focused protocol it is building, has onboarded over 368,000 unique accounts for its Poseidon testnet.
“While tokenized treasuries and stablecoins currently dominate RWA use cases, the future promises growing traction in real estate, private credit, and other asset classes like commodities,” Clearpool CEO and co-founder Jakob Kronbichler told Decrypt in an interview.
Clearpool claimed in its Q4 report that it had processed over $650 million in total loans originated for Q4 2024 alone, achieving a 51% increase in total value locked.
“BlackRock’s credibility in the RWA movement is paving the way for other institutions to follow suit,” Kronbichler told Decrypt.
Private credit has proven particularly hot, with Clearpool Prime garnering $124 million in loans since launching in December 2023.
Innovations and shifts
The surge mirrors a broader trend of traditional financial institutions warming up to tokenized markets, according to research from DeFi liquidity protocol Tren Finance.
Executives across broader sectors are paying attention, too. Some 86% of Fortune 500 executives now see the benefits of tokenization, with 35% already cooking up tokenization projects, the TAC report shows.
“Tokenization offers numerous advantages, solving a variety of problems in TradFi,” Kronbichler explained, citing use cases for liquidity, fractional ownership, automation, transparency, and programmability.
Innovation in treasury products hasn’t slowed either. Platforms are rolling out features that institutional investors have been craving, like round-the-clock redemptions and peer-to-peer transfers—making blockchain-based finance look increasingly attractive to the suit-and-tie crowd.
Kronbichler also points to recent political shifts in the U.S. that he recognizes as catalysts that could push traditional finance “to engage with RWAs.” In December last year, President-elect Donald Trump named Paul Atkins to lead the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Kronbichler noted that this appointment is crucial because Atkins “brings expertise that could drive regulatory transparency and accelerate institutional adoption.”
Atkins is a member of the advisory board at Securitize, a Clearpool partner specializing in tokenization and collaborating with BlackRock.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
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