- According to a report by analytics firms, tokenized assets are growing despite the DeFi downturn.
- The total RWA market capitalization has surpassed $43 billion.
- In particular, Ethereum is strengthening its lead in asset tokenization, and tokenized stocks are following the path of stablecoins.
Real-world assets (RWA) are increasingly being used in decentralized finance, despite the broader cooling of the crypto market. This is stated in a joint report by CoinShares and Token Terminal, covering the period from Q2 2025 to Q2 2026.
The authors noted that the use of RWA as collateral, rising trading volumes, and the development of derivatives indicate that tokenization is moving from the asset issuance stage to real-world use.
According to Token Terminal, the total RWA market capitalization has already reached $43.8 billion. Tokenized funds hold the largest share — 78.4%, followed by commodities (16.2%) and stocks (5.4%). At the same time, tokenized stocks are showing the fastest growth rate since the start of the year.
RWAs have reached $43.8B in market cap.
— Token Terminal
Funds account for 78.4%, followed by commodities (16.2%) and stocks (5.4%).
Stocks represent the fastest-growing RWA sector by YTD growth rate. pic.twitter.com/6dCqiyRCU4(@tokenterminal) August 3, 2026
Demand for RWA Grew Even Amid the DeFi Downturn
According to the report, total deposits in DeFi fell by about 15% over the year due to declining crypto asset prices and capital outflows. At the same time, RWA deposits on lending platforms and decentralized exchanges more than tripled — from $2.3 billion to $7.4 billion.
CoinShares believes this is an important signal.
“When an asset class grows through a downturn in its host ecosystem, demand is being driven by financial utility, not by market cycles. That is precisely what Hybrid Finance predicted: tokenisation is structural, not cyclical,” said Jean-Marie Mognetti, co-founder, president, and CEO of CoinShares.
The authors also noted that the most popular collateral assets are tokenized Treasury funds and yield-bearing stablecoins, including JTRSY, BUIDL, and sUSDS. They are followed by private credit products and delta-neutral strategies.
Ethereum remains the primary ecosystem for using RWA — nearly 70% of all deposits are collateralized on this network. Plasma ranks second, while Solana’s growth is attributed to the development of the Kamino lending protocol.
This also aligns with Token Terminal data, according to which J.P. Morgan’s tokenized money market funds JLTXX and MONY have already surpassed $900 million in combined assets under management (AUM) on the Ethereum network.
— Token Terminal
J.P. Morgan, the world's most valuable financial services firm, continues to scale on Ethereum.
The firm's JLTXX and MONY tokenized money market funds surpassed $900M in combined onchain AUM on Ethereum.
An issuer & network to watchpic.twitter.com/YZdxy7UzS3
Tokenized Assets Are Trading More Actively
The authors cited the secondary market as another indicator of the segment’s maturity.
Despite the fact that total spot trading volumes on DEX fell by about 70% year-over-year, trading in tokenized assets rose by roughly 220%.
The highest activity was seen in:
- Tokenized gold
- Tokenized funds
- Tokenized equities, whose share continues to grow rapidly
CoinShares notes that the development of spot markets is making RWAs more accessible to a broader range of investors. Another potential driver could be major fintech platforms like Robinhood and Revolut, if they more actively integrate onchain trading.
At the same time, the perpetual futures segment also differs from the broader crypto market. After October 2025, activity across most crypto derivatives declined, while trading volumes for RWA futures on the tradeXYZ platform have increased by roughly 20x since launch.
In addition, open interest continued to rise, which, according to the authors, indicates not only active trading, but also growth in the amount of capital investors are willing to hold in this segment.
Ethereum Strengthens Its Position, and Tokenized Stocks Resemble Stablecoins in 2019
Despite the rapid growth in RWA usage, revenues at the largest DeFi protocols remain under pressure due to the broader downturn in crypto activity. The report notes that tokenized assets have not yet reached a scale that could materially change the financial performance of the largest applications.
Meanwhile, Hyperliquid has become the largest onchain exchange by revenue, and Ethereum and Solana remain the key blockchains for the development of tokenized finance.
Separately, the authors highlighted the difference between institutional and retail investors. While products like BlackRock’s BUIDL are geared toward large pools of capital, tokenized stocks are growing their holder base the fastest.
“Only around $2.2 billion of a global equity market of over hundred of trillions of dollars has been tokenised, a position reminiscent of stablecoins in 2019,” Mognetti noted.
CoinShares expects that the next stage in the development of hybrid finance will be defined not by the volume of tokenized assets issued, but by the scale of their usage.
Among the key trends, the authors highlighted the growing real-world utility of RWAs, liquidity concentrating around the largest platforms, a gradual increase in monetization across the segment, and an expanding product lineup.
CoinShares’ conclusions echo other recent market research. Earlier, CoinGecko experts called the RWA sector the most profitable crypto narrative of 2025, with an average return of 185.8%.
Meanwhile, BlackRock described 2026 as a period of growth for tokenization and AI infrastructure, and Consensys CEO Joseph Lubin said that tokenization will gradually spread across the global economy. At the same time, earlier industry forecasts estimated the tokenized assets market’s potential at anywhere from a few trillion to tens of trillions of dollars over the next decade.
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