According to investment bank Standard Chartered, tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) could reach a complete value of $2 trillion over the following three years as more global capital and payments shift to more efficient blockchain rails.
The bank said in a report shared with Cointelegraph on Thursday that the “trustless” structure of decentralized finance (DeFi) is poised to challenge the dominance of traditional financial systems (TradFi) controlled by centralized entities.
The increasing use of DeFi in payments and investments could boost non-stablecoin tokenized RWAs to a market cap of $2 trillion by 2028, the investment bank predicts.
Of the $2 trillion, $750 billion is predicted to flow into money market funds, one other $750 billion into tokenized U.S. stocks, $250 billion into tokenized U.S. funds and one other $250 billion into “less liquid” segments of personal equity, including commodities, corporate bonds and tokenized real estate.
“Stablecoin liquidity and DeFi banking are key enablers for rapid expansion of tokenized RWAs,” said Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital asset research at Standard Chartered, adding:
“We expect RWA to grow exponentially in the approaching years.”
Reaching a $2 trillion market cap represents over 57x growth in RWAs over the following three years from their current total value of $35 billion, in line with data from RWA.xyz.
Source: RWA.xyz
Stablecoins drive DeFi’s self-sustaining growth cycle
Total stablecoin supply reached a brand new record of over $300 billion on October 3, representing a year-to-date growth rate of 46.8%.
Kendrick said the stablecoin expansion strengthens the broader DeFi ecosystem. “In DeFi, liquidity creates latest products, and latest products create latest liquidity,” he wrote. “We consider a self-sustaining cycle of DeFi growth has begun.”
Despite the optimism, Standard Chartered said regulatory uncertainty stays the largest threat to the RWA sector. The report warned that progress could stall if the Trump administration fails to deliver comprehensive crypto laws before the 2026 midterm elections.
