Real-world asset (RWA) deposits across DeFi lending platforms and decentralized exchanges more than tripled from $2.3 billion to $7.4 billion over the past year, even as total DeFi deposits fell about 15%, according to a new report from CoinShares and Token Terminal.
Spot trading volumes for tokenized assets on decentralized exchanges increased 220% year over year, while crypto-native DEX volumes declined roughly 70%, per the report
Products such as tokenized Treasury funds, multi-strategy funds and private credit account for most RWA deposits, as investors seek assets that continue generating income while being used as collateral. More From Cryptoprowl: “For the past few years, success in tokenization has largely been measured by the value of assets brought on-chain,” Taran Dhillon, head of digital assets at Kula, an investment firm focused on RWAs, told Cryptoprowl. Dhillon said that the key takeaway from the report is that tokenized assets are increasingly being used as productive financial instruments. “Their growth, despite a broader slowdown across DeFi, suggests demand is being driven by utility rather than market sentiment,” he added.
Ethereum (CRYPTO: $ETH) remained the dominant blockchain for tokenized assets, hosting nearly 70% of RWA collateral used in DeFi lending, while Solana (CRYPTO: $SOL) strengthened its position in spot trading and Hyperliquid (CRYPTO: $HYPE) emerged as a leading venue for tokenized perpetual futures. Despite the rapid growth in usage, the report noted that tokenized assets remain a small segment of global financial markets. Only about $2.2 billion of the more than $100 trillion global equity market has been tokenized so far, a stage CoinShares compared to the early days of stablecoins in 2019.