Wall Street turns to 'always-on' RWA trading platforms as global conflicts escalate

The ongoing conflict between the U.S. and Iran is accelerating Wall Street’s transition into tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) to allay the risk of geopolitical volatility. The crisis has solidified RWAs as essential “always-on” infrastructure for Wall Street, exposing the limitations of traditional financial markets that close during weekends.

As of April 2026, financial institutions are increasingly adopting blockchain-based tokenized trading to reduce the risks posed by 24/7 geopolitical tensions that traditional markets are ill-equipped to handle.

Closing on weekends when many geopolitical escalations occur has emerged as a critical vulnerability in traditional financial markets. Major attacks, such as the U.S. strikes on Iran in February 2026, have frequently happened during off-market hours.

Accordingly, Wall Street desks now use tokenized assets and perpetual futures on platforms like Hyperliquid as the only open window for pricing gold, oil, and war risk when legacy exchanges are offline. The disruption of physical trade routes, particularly in the Strait of Hormuz, has accelerated the shift toward instant “atomic” settlement.

Tokenized U.S. Treasuries market surges to over $12B in April

The tokenized U.S. Treasuries market has surged to $12.78 billion as of April 2026, as investors seek liquid collateral that can be moved instantly across borders. Tokenized commodities like gold and oil have also seen surging volumes as traders seek around-the-clock hedges against energy supply shocks. 

Meanwhile, institutional players are also transitioning from pilot programs to full-scale deployment of tokenized assets. Major firms like BlackRock and Franklin Templeton have integrated tokenized funds into their core offerings to avoid the bottlenecks of the traditional banking system during crises.

These firms provide a digital-native structure that remains operational even as physical infrastructure, like in the Gulf, faces drone threats. As of April 2026, BlackRock has accumulated approximately $1.9 billion in tokenized U.S. Treasuries within its BUIDL fund.

On the other hand, some nations, including Iran, are experimenting with blockchain to exchange value outside the U.S.-dollar-denominated system to bypass sanctions and naval blockades. Crypto-native platforms effectively became “the market” during critical moments, such as the February 2026 airstrikes. Legacy exchanges are now under intense pressure to adopt 24/7 trading models to compete with these digital-native structures, according to media reports.

Consequently, on-chain perpetual futures for commodities like gold and oil now account for more than 67% of builder-deployed contracts on decentralized exchanges, with weekend volumes increasing ninefold since the beginning of 2026. The need for blockchain-based instant settlement has become a structural necessity, providing products that remain liquid even when physical trade routes are disrupted. 

IMF chief economist says U.S.-Iran war creates bigger risk than Trump’s tariffs

IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas has emphasized that the U.S.-Iran conflict creates a far bigger risk to the global economy than President Donald Trump’s initial wave of steep tariffs a year ago.

He further notes that several countries are likely to undergo outright recessions under this scenario, with oil prices averaging $110 per barrel in 2026 and $125 in 2027.

“What’s happening in the Gulf is potentially much, much larger, and that’s what our scenarios are kind of documenting.”

–Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, Chief Economist at the IMF

Based on these claims, the U.S.-Iran war is prompting investors to turn to tokenized oil and decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms for hedging, with major financial players fast-tracking the launch of tokenized securities platforms. Traders are using 24/7 crypto-native markets to hedge against oil price volatility stemming from the conflict.

The IMF also predicts that global GDP growth could fall to 2.5% under an adverse scenario of a longer conflict that would keep oil prices around $100 per barrel this year. The fund’s worst-case scenario assumes a deepening, prolonged conflict that could drive oil prices higher, prompting major financial market dislocations and tighter financial conditions, slashing global growth to 2%.

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