1. RWA track in-depth analysis: 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 a 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), and the lack of sufficient real-world assets (RWA) support, which makes 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 increase 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 push the entire blockchain industry into a new growth cycle.

RWA's core concept is to digitize various assets in traditional financial markets (such as bonds, real estate, stocks, artworks, private equity, etc.) and convert them into tokenized assets that can be traded, collateralized or borrowed on-chain through blockchain technology. This process not only enhances the liquidity of assets, but also reduces friction costs in traditional financial markets, such as long transaction liquidation 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, with cumbersome links, resulting in high transaction costs. RWA tokenization can realize real-time on-chain liquidation, greatly improving transaction efficiency and reducing transaction costs. At the same time, due to the transparency and traceability of blockchain, RWA assets are managed more transparently, which can effectively reduce fraud and inappropriate operations in the market.

As blockchain technology matures and market demand grows, the RWA track is attracting more and more institutions to participate. For example, BlackRock, one of the world's largest asset management companies, recently launched a blockchain-based tokenized fund BUIDL, which mainly holds stable assets such as U.S. bonds and provides more efficient trading methods through blockchain. In addition, traditional financial giants such as Franklin Templeton are also actively trying to tokenize some of their fund products, so that investors can participate in the market more easily. These cases show that the RWA track is no longer just a "crypto narrative", but is becoming a core trend in the digitalization of global financial markets.

From a technical perspective, the development of RWA relies on the support of multiple critical infrastructures, including blockchain underlying network, smart contracts, oracle, decentralized identity (DID) and compliance management. First of all, public chains, as the carrier of RWA assets, determine the security and operability of 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 a popular choice for RWA asset transactions to reduce transaction costs and increase throughput. In addition, public chains such as Solana, Avalanche, and Polkadot are also exploring the application scenarios of RWA assets, striving to seize market share in this field.

From the market size of the RWA track, the market size of the RWA track is expected to reach $16 trillion by 2030, far exceeding the total market value of the current crypto market. Currently, the global real estate market is worth about $300 trillion, but most real estate investments require high capital and are low in liquidity. If 1% of the assets are tokenized, a $3 trillion RWA market can be created. Similarly, the global bond market is more than $120 trillion, and if 1% enters blockchain, it will form an emerging market of $1.2 trillion.

Institutional funds are accelerating into the RWA track, indicating that this track is no longer a pure "cryptographic experiment", but is becoming an important part of the global financial system. In 2025, as Trump 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 traditional financial markets. In the next few years, with the improvement of more infrastructure, the implementation of regulatory frameworks, 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, RWA The rise of the 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 willIt will become the core proposition for the development of the crypto industry in the next few years.

2. Current market environment: Catalysts of macroeconomics and RWA development

In the context of the increasing uncertainty of the global economy, changes in liquidity cycles 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 Reserve currency, the continued impact of inflationary pressure, the volatility of the debt market and the increase in institutional participation in the crypto market, the development of RWA has ushered in an unprecedented opportunity. At the same time, the drawbacks of the traditional financial system and the maturity of DeFi (decentralized finance) have also promoted the pace of real-world assets to the on-chain migration. This article will in-depth discussion of the development catalytic factors of the RWA track from five aspects: global macroeconomic situation, liquidity environment, regulatory trends, institutional entry status and the maturity of the DeFi ecosystem.

2.1 Global macroeconomic situation: changes in inflation, interest rates and market risk aversion sentiment

The global macroeconomic environment is one of the most core variables affecting the development of RWA. In recent years, due to factors such as weak economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic, intensified geopolitical conflicts, supply chain problems and central bank adjustments, there is great uncertainty in global economic growth. Among them, changes in inflation and interest rates directly affect capital liquidity and investors' asset allocation strategies, and indirectly promote the development of the RWA track. First of all, from the perspective of inflation, the Fed's aggressive interest rate hikes in the past two years have had a profound impact on global markets. Since 2022, the Fed has raised interest rates several times in a row to curb high inflation rates, resulting in tightening of global liquidity. In a high interest rate environment, investors' risk appetite is reduced, and traditional financial markets are impacted, resulting in capital being more inclined to flow into low-risk, high-yield asset classes. This prompted investors to start paying attention to assets such as Treasury bonds, gold, and real estate, and the tokenization of these assets happened to become an important growth point in the RWA track. For example, U.S. bond tokenization (such as the OUSG token provided by Ondo Finance) has become an important investment tool in the crypto market due to its high annualized yield (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 financial hedging. As of 2024, the total global debt has exceeded $300 trillion, of which U.S. Treasury bonds exceeded $34 trillion, and the fiscal deficit hit a record high. In this case, investors' confidence in the traditional financial market is impacted.We are looking for more transparent and efficient financial infrastructure, and the trustless, boundless and low-cost features provided by blockchain technology make the on-chainization of RWA assets the best solution. In addition, in the high inflation environment, demand for gold and commodities surged, and gold tokens (such as PAXG, XAUT) have also become popular assets in the crypto market. Overall, uncertainty in the global economy has increased investors’ demand for safe-haven assets, and innovations in the RWA track have allowed these assets to enter the crypto market more easily, thus driving explosive growth in the track.

2.2 Liquidity environment: Federal Reserve's turn and changes in market risk preferences

RWA The rapid development of the RWA track is inseparable from changes in the global liquidity environment. From 2022 to 2023, the Federal Reserve implemented a significant interest rate hike, resulting in a serious tightening of liquidity in global markets. However, since 2024, with the easing of inflationary pressure, the Federal Reserve has entered the end of interest rate hikes, and may even begin a cycle of interest rate cuts, and market liquidity expectations have changed, which has had a great boost to the RWA track. First of all, the adjustment of the Federal Reserve's currency has led to an increase in the market's demand for stable income assets. The DeFi ecosystem has experienced high volatility and high risk stages in 2021-2022, but investors are currently more inclined to low-risk, predictable returns 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 return model in the DeFi ecosystem, which is also one of the important reasons why RWA exploded in 2024. Secondly, from the perspective of the crypto market, BTC ushered in spot ETFs in 2024, and institutional capital continued to flow in, expanding the fund pool of the entire crypto market. In addition to BTC, these funds also need to find more stable investment targets. Due to its deep binding to traditional financial markets, RWA assets have become an important allocation direction for institutional funds. For example, asset management giants such as BlackRock and Fidelity have begun to focus on the RWA field and launch related investment products, which will further drive the growth of the RWA track. In addition, as the interest rate of DeFi drops, the yield advantage of the RWA track becomes increasingly obvious. The yield of the DeFi ecosystem is generally as high as more than 10% from 2021 to 2022, but the stablecoin yield of most DeFi protocols has dropped to between 2% and 4% in 2024, while the yield of US Treasury on the RWA track remains above 5%, which makes RWA assets the new DeFi Income pillar, attracting a large amount of capital inflows.

2.3 Regulatory trends: RWA track compliance process

In the development 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 US SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) have conducted research on securities tokenization and bond tokenization, and have allowed some institutions to issue tokenized assets under the compliance framework. For example, Securitize has been recognized by the SEC to be able to issue blockchain-based securities tokens, which provides a good example of compliance in the RWA track. Secondly, Europe, Japan, Singapore and other places are relatively open to the RWA track. For example, SIX Digital Exchange (SDX) in Switzerland and Boerse Stuttgart Digital Exchange (BSDEX) in Germany have supported tokenized stock trading, while Singapore is also actively promoting the on-chain development of RWA assets. These positive factors make institutional investors more willing to enter the RWA track, providing a solid foundation for their development.

2.4 Institutional entry and DeFi ecosystem maturity improvement

In addition to macroeconomics and supervision, institutional entry and DeFi ecosystem maturity are also important driving factors for the growth of the RWA track. Traditional institutions have begun to focus on 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 just 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 marketThe result of demand-driven is the product of the combined effect of the global macroeconomic, regulatory, liquidity environment and DeFi ecological evolution. Driven by these catalytic factors, the RWA track is expected to become one of the most important engines for the growth of the crypto market in 2024-2025.

3. Main categories and core projects of RWA track

In the context of the continuous maturity of the crypto market and the accelerated influx of institutional funds, 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 blockchain tokenized ways, making them more liquid, easier to obtain, and can be integrated with the DeFi ecosystem. This not only brings the convenience of decentralized finance to traditional assets, but also provides a more stable source of returns for the DeFi ecosystem. The RWA track has a rich application scenario, and different types of real-world assets have different forms of performance on the chain. They can usually be divided into the following categories: bonds RWA, commodity and bulk assets 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 category RWA: On-chain the US Treasury, Treasury bonds, and corporate bonds

The bond market is one of the most important asset classes in the global financial market, especially the US Treasury bonds (UST), which is regarded as one of the safest assets in the world and is widely used in hedging and reserve assets. With the maturity of the DeFi ecosystem, more and more institutions are trying to introduce bond assets into blockchain to achieve transparency in returns, increase in liquidity and the possibility of global transactions.

At present, the global debt market size has exceeded US$300 trillion, of which US bonds account for a very high proportion, while the total market value of the crypto market is only US$2-3 trillion. If the bonded assets in the RWA track can be successfully introduced into the DeFi ecosystem, it will greatly change the market structure. The liquidity of the traditional bond market is limited by factors such as trading time, market entry threshold, settlement cycle, etc., and on-chain bonds can provide advantages such as 7*24-hour trading, borderless access, and second-level settlement, making it an important supplement to the DeFi ecosystem.

Representative project analysis: Currently in the RWA track, the main players in the bond tokenization field include Ondo Finance, Maple Finance, Backed Finance et al.

Ondo Finance: It is currently one of the most active bond tokenization projects, focusing on US debt tokenization, providing OUSG (Ondo Short-Term US Government Bond Fund), allowing DeFi users to obtain returns similar to short-term US Treasury ETFs on the chain, with an annualized return of more than 5%. Ondo's tokenized bonds are escrowed by compliant institutions, comply with the requirements of U.S. securities laws and are also free to circulate on-chain.

Maple Finance: Originally focused on the DeFi lending market, it later expanded to the RWA track to provide on-chain-based debt financing services. Maple allows institutional investors to issue bonds in the DeFi ecosystem, providing a stable source of returns for the crypto market.

Backed Finance: launched a variety of bond ETF tokenized products, such as $bIB01 (corresponding to iShares short-term US bond ETF), providing investors with on-chain versions of mainstream bond ETFs in traditional financial markets, lowering the trading 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 Commodity and bulk assets RWA: On-chain development of commodities such as gold, crude oil

The commodity market is another important RWA track, especially gold. Due to its long-term role as a store of value, it has become one of the earliest assets on blockchain to realize tokenization. The tokenization of commodities allows investors to trade more easily and can directly combine with the DeFi ecosystem to improve the liquidity of assets.

Gold has long been an inflation hedging tool, and the market demand for gold has continued to rise amid increasing global economic uncertainty. However, the transaction costs of traditional gold markets are high and the delivery process is complex, while tokenized gold assets (such as PAXG, XAUT) can provide seamless cross-border transactions, smart contract management, and DeFi staking, making them an important asset class in the crypto market.

Representative project analysis:

PAXG (Paxos Gold): Gold tokens 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 most traded gold token on-chain and is widely used in DeFi staking and trading.

XAUT (Tether Gold): The gold token issued by Tether is 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, so that the commodity market can 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 stronger anti-inflation asset classes to the crypto market.

3.3 Real Estate RWA: Breakthrough in asset liquidity

The real estate market is one of the largest real estate markets in the world. However, due to problems such as high transaction costs and low liquidity, it is difficult for the traditional real estate market to integrate with the DeFi ecosystem. The real estate tokenization in the RWA track allows global investors to participate in the real estate market through blockchain and break down regional and financial barriers.

Representative project analysis:

RealT: Tokenize U.S. real estate assets, each token represents part of the ownership of the real estate assets, and investors can obtain rental income by holding tokens.

LABS Group: Focusing on the Asian real estate tokenized market, allowing individual investors to participate in high-end real estate investments at extremely low thresholds.

The development of the real estate RWA track has greatly improved the liquidity of the real estate market, and has also provided new pledged assets for DeFi and promoted the growth of the entire ecosystem.

3.4 Private Equity and Funds RWA: Make VC Investment More Transparent

The traditional VC investment and private equity fund markets have long had high thresholds and low transparency problems, and the tokenization of the RWA track has made these assets more liquid. For example, the well-known asset management company Hamilton Lane issued tokenized funds through blockchain, allowing investors to participate in the private equity market at a lower threshold.

In addition, compliant tokenization platforms such as Securitize are helping more traditional institutions to put equity assets on the chain, allowing them to trade in the secondary market, improving liquidity.

4. Challenges and potential breakthrough points of the RWA track

In addition, compliance tokenization platforms such as Securitize are helping more traditional institutions to put equity assets on the chain, allowing them to trade in the secondary market, and improving liquidity.

4. Challenges and potential breakthrough points of 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 trade, pledge, borrow, etc. on a decentralized financial (DeFi) platform. This track has great potential, but it also faces many challenges. How to overcome these challenges will be the key to determining whether it can continue to grow. First, one of the most significant challenges is legal compliance. Traditional assets are usually subject to legal and regulatory frameworks in various countries. Digitalization of these assets into the blockchain environment may face scrutiny and adaptability issues from regulators. Many current financial regulation There is no clear provision for crypto assets and blockchain technology, especially when it comes to multinational asset transfers, legal uncertainty increases the risks of enterprises. For example, how to legally transfer traditional assets such as real estate or bonds to blockchain on a global scale and ensure compliance under different legal jurisdictions requires not only the in-depth participation of legal experts, but also the revision of the legal framework. In addition, the management and ownership transfer 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 forms is still a complex issue. This not only involves how to tokenize physical assets (i.e. convert them into digital tokens), but also ensures that these tokens can accurately reflect the value and liquidity of assets. At present, the digitalization process of assets often depends on traditional third-party intermediaries for evaluation and endorsement, such as banks or legal institutions, which brings about the contradiction between the decentralized concept and traditional centralized institutions. In addition, the issue of asset custody and management is also a major technical problem.. While blockchains can provide transparency and automation, how to ensure the security and compliance of assets, especially without centralized intermediaries, is a problem that must be addressed. Blockchain smart contracts can greatly simplify the asset trading process, but once a vulnerability or error occurs, it may lead to huge asset losses. Therefore, the security and audit of smart contracts are very important.

For innovators in the RWA track, how to effectively combine the advantages of blockchain with real-world needs is the key. Especially in 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, high-value assets such as real estate have a long trading cycle and limited market participants. How to use blockchain to break the liquidity bottleneck of traditional assets, let these assets flow globally, and become liquid assets of the DeFi platform is one of the potential breakthrough points in the RWA track. By introducing tokenization of assets, assets such as real estate projects, bonds, etc. can be cut into multiple small shares, thereby lowering the transaction threshold, attracting more investors to participate, and making the assets more liquid. In addition, the tokenization of assets can also improve market transparency, and investors can track the flow of assets through the public records of blockchain, reducing the problem of market information asymmetry.

In addition to legal and technical challenges, market acceptance is also an important obstacle facing the RWA track. Although blockchain has achieved remarkable achievements in the cryptocurrency and DeFi, blockchain and digital assets are still a relatively unfamiliar concept for traditional investors. Especially for investors who are accustomed to traditional financial systems and asset classes, digital assets do not necessarily gain their trust immediately. To break this barrier, the RWA track needs to establish closer cooperative relationships with traditional financial institutions. A potential breakthrough point is that as more traditional financial institutions begin to embrace blockchain technology and explore collaboration 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 drive market acceptance of RWA by providing endorsement for digital assets, or working with blockchain platforms.

In addition, potential breakthrough points 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 there are still major challenges in interoperability between different public chains. If RWA can achieve multi-chain interoperability, cross-chain asset transfer will become smoother and asset value flow will be greatly improved. To achieve this, cross-chain protocols and bridging technologies will become important breakthrough points in the RWA track. This not only canIt can improve the liquidity of assets, expand RWA's market share, and attract more investors and users.

5. RWA future prospects and investment strategies

With the continuous maturity and development of blockchain technology, the RWA track is undergoing a subtle transformation. The integration of traditional assets and the crypto world will not only be a supplement to digital assets, but will also be a reshaping of the global financial system. Future RWA will bring huge market opportunities, but it will also be accompanied by 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.

RWA's future prospects are full of potential, especially as the bridge role between blockchain technology and traditional financial systems becomes increasingly obvious. As blockchain technology is gradually accepted by financial institutions, the tokenization of traditional assets will become more and more common. It is expected that asset tokenization will become mainstream in the next few years, especially in real estate, bonds, equity and commodities. The traditional financial markets are increasingly open to digital assets, and this trend 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 transparent asset management while reducing operating costs and improving efficiency. Especially in those capital-intensive industries, RWA's market potential will be more significant, and digital assets can transcend geographical restrictions and provide unprecedented investment opportunities for global investors.

RWA's future prospects are closely related to the digitalization process of the entire financial system. As the financial market increasingly transforms into 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 "dividend" of blockchain financial innovation. Therefore, there will be more and more investment opportunities in the RWA track. Investors need to grasp market dynamics in a timely manner and flexibly adjust their investment strategies in order to get the greatest return in this innovative market.