RWA 2.0: The Rise of onchain Real-World Assets
- Kamil Jakub Natil
- Jul 24
- 4 min read
TL;DR
RWA market TVL surpassed $24 billion by mid-2025, up from $10 billion in 2022
Private credit leads non-stablecoin segments with $14 billion in value
Tokenized U.S. Treasuries reached $5.6 billion, driven by institutional inflows
Gold-backed tokens rose nearly 68 percent, hitting an estimated $1.9 billion
Stablecoins still anchor on-chain finance with a $224.9 billion market cap
Brazil is emerging as a regulated testbed for RWA deployments
Most projects still launch on general-purpose chains that lack compliance and performance
Modular infrastructure like Tanssi is already supporting real RWA production use cases
Real-World Assets on the Rise: Market Growth and Institutional Momentum
Tokenizing real-world assets isn’t just a technical exercise. It represents a fundamental shift in how value flows across financial systems.
From U.S. Treasuries and private credit to commodities and receivables, putting these assets on-chain unlocks fractional ownership, 24/7 markets, and global access.
And the numbers show it’s working.
The RWA market reached over $24 billion in TVL by June 2025, according to industry trackers. That’s a steep climb from around $10 billion in 2022. Projections suggest the space could top $50 billion by 2027. While the definition of RWAs varies, a consensus is emerging around non-stablecoin assets, such as tokenized bonds, loans, and credit products, as key drivers of growth.
Private Credit Leads Tokenized Debt Growth
Private credit is currently the largest segment in the non-stablecoin RWA space, valued at around $14 billion. These are tokenized debt instruments and receivables. They thrive in markets where traditional liquidity channels are limited or fragmented. Both DeFi-native players and traditional institutions are converging on this approach. Tanssi’s recent integration with Decentral explores the opportunities of $200 billion in real-world finance within the creators' economy. Decentral launched its own appchain on the Tanssi testnet in June 2025.
U.S. Treasuries Go On-Chain
As of April 2025, tokenized U.S. Treasuries had a market capitalization of $5.6 billion, representing a year-over-year growth of more than five times.
BlackRock’s BUIDL fund is the largest single product, managing $2.5 to $2.9 billion and integrating with Ethereum, Polygon, and Solana. The March 2025 U.S. tariff shock drove a $2.3 billion inflow in just 30 days, showing how fast tokenized safe-haven assets can absorb demand.
Gold-Backed Tokens Gain Investor Interest
Gold-backed tokens, such as PAXG and XAUT, surged as investors sought inflation hedges. Their combined market cap grew to an estimated $1.9 billion by mid-2025, up nearly 68 percent year-over-year.
Stablecoins Continue to Anchor On-Chain Liquidity
Stablecoins may not always be counted in RWA totals, but they continue to anchor the tokenized economy. As of April 2025, fiat-backed stablecoins had a market capitalization of $224.9 billion, led by USDT and USDC, which together accounted for 93.5 percent of the market. Their growth underpins liquidity across virtually every RWA segment.
Brazil and LATAM Lead in Regulated Tokenization
While much of the institutional buzz centers on the U.S. and Europe, real-world implementation is happening in Latin America, particularly Brazil.
The Central Bank’s DREX program is piloting real-world blockchain finance at scale. In just one month, over R$48.1 million in tokenized assets were issued via the program.
Meanwhile, local players are translating tokenization into production:
Decentral runs the first RWA Protocol of the Creative Economy
BRX is focused on debt instruments
Wirex is launching a payment chain built on Tanssi to support stablecoin settlement
Together, these initiatives position Brazil as one of the most advanced markets in terms of on-chain regulatory experimentation.
The Infrastructure Problem: Why Shared Chains Are Not Enough
Despite the growth, most RWA platforms still start on generic blockchains or rollups. These are accessible and familiar but rarely optimized for compliance, performance, or uptime guarantees. Centralized Sequencers Pose Reliability Risks
Outages on Arbitrum and Conduit in 2023 highlighted the risks associated with centralized sequencing. For RWAs, where the stakes include regulatory trust and large asset flows, such fragility is unacceptable.
Compliance Requirements Demand Customization
Building in whitelisting, identity checks, or transaction screening from scratch takes time and capital. Teams report spending over $250,000 on infrastructure and legal to get to a compliant MVP.
Modular Blockchain Infrastructure Is Taking the Lead
To address the bottlenecks, a new stack of modular infrastructure is gaining traction. Platforms like Tanssi enable developers to create custom execution environments with native compliance, seamless data integrations, and secure sequencing.
We’re seeing early adoption in the RWA space, particularly in LATAM.
How Tanssi Supports Real-World Asset Networks
Custom appchains are deployed live in minutes, not months. This is significantly improving the GTM time while reducing costs.
Decentralized sequencers to prevent front-running and ensure fairness. It helps eliminate a single point of failure appearing in many rollups and L2s. The protocols that deal with its clients' funds can’t afford to be exposed to the risk of malfunction, censorship, or even human error.
Compliance, including KYC & AML support via customizable identity pallets. Tanssi's clients also experiment with more custom solutions.
Oracle support for proof-of-reserve and external data validation
Inter-appchain composability without the need for bridges
Over 18,000 testnet appchains have already been deployed on Tanssi, with more than 57 million transactions processed in under six months. With the Mainnet launched in early June 2025, projects are onboarding their appchains to the Mainnet in Q3 and Q4 of the same year.
Real-World Asset Use Cases Built on Tanssi
Wirex Pay Chain: stablecoin settlement for merchants
Grupo Flow: tokenizing media rights
BRX Finance: credit market infrastructure
BlockBR: building regulated RWA solutions in Brazil
Decentral: Real-world finance for creators
Lumia: Institutional-grade solution for RWAs
These are production-grade experiments on Tanssi testnet, not just whitepapers or pilots. They’re moving to Mainnet in Q3 and Q4 of 2025. The next wave of tokenization is composable, localized, and tailored to specific asset classes and jurisdictions.
Final Take: Infrastructure Must Catch Up with Adoption
RWAs are having their moment. Institutional inflows are accelerating, retail access is expanding, and governments are finally embracing on-chain finance in practical terms.
However, scaling this market means addressing real infrastructure challenges. The future of tokenized assets will not be built on generic rails. It will be powered by modular systems built for compliance, composability, and resilience from the ground up.
Tanssi’s strong fit in this space is already evident.
➡️ Learn more: https://apps.tanssi.network
Comments