Real-world assets (RWAs) are becoming a bigger part of crypto, but the growth is not spreading evenly… yet.
Private credit has moved ahead, especially through DeFi. However, most of the activity is still concentrated in a small group of assets and platforms. At the same time, newer areas are also grabbing eyeballs.
The market is moving beyond its initial phase now.
Private credit leads RWA DeFi usage
Private credit is one of the few RWA categories where on-chain usage is visible. 64.3% of private credit’s on-chain value is now in DeFi. Investors are not holding these assets passively.
There’s more to this though. Only 8 out of 53 scored private credit assets have reached meaningful composability. In simple terms, most assets are still not widely usable across DeFi protocols.
So, while there is real demand, it is concentrated in a small part of the category. Private credit may be ahead of many RWA segments, but it still has a long way to go.
RWA perpetuals are scaling, but commodities dominate
The concentration is not limited to private credit either. In fact, CoinMarketCap’s May 2026 report showed that RWA perpetuals have already moved into serious volume. There was $821.8 billion in cumulative activity and the latest week was at $55.9 billion.
The market’s shape is also clear.
Centralized exchanges now handle most of the flow, with CEXs at 72% and DEXs at 28%. DEX activity share fell from 60% to 23%, yet absolute DEX volume still grew 5x over the same period.
For now, commodities remain the main catalyst, at 82% of flow.
The next RWA battleground?
Tokenized stocks are where the market may be heading next.
The category has grown quickly, with market cap now around $1.7 billion and activity spread across thousands of stock-linked assets.
However, here too, the opportunity isn’t level.
A few issuers and chains still control most of the market, while others are trying to catch up. That makes tokenized stocks a competitive stage for platforms, issuers, and blockchains.
Final Summary
- RWA growth has been rising fast, but activity is still concentrated across select categories.
- Tokenized stocks and RWA perpetuals highlight the next big opportunity.