RWA market rides institutional capital to record highs: RedStone report

The market for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) has exceeded $24 billion in value as of June 2025, according to RedStone’s newly published RWA in On‑Chain Finance Report: H1 2025 Market Overview, co-authored with Gauntlet and rwa.xyz. 

RWA now ranks as the second-fastest-growing category in crypto, behind stablecoins. RedStone researchers attributed this growth to private credit issuance on blockchain networks.

In 2022, the market was valued between $5 and $10 billion. Three years later, private credit alone accounts for over $14 billion, or more than half of the total RWA market, buoyed by institutional demand for higher yields and faster liquidity access. 

“Private credit has become the foundation for tokenization’s real-world impact,” said Marcin Kaźmierczak, co-founder of RedStone. “Institutional finance is actively moving into blockchain, exploring and deploying capital in meaningful ways.”

Treasury tokens’ use cases expand

Institutions are purportedly attracted to tokenized private credit because of its yield opportunities, averaging 8–12%. 

RedStone’s analysis cited products like Apollo’s ACRED fund, issued through Securitize and integrated with DeFi protocols such as Morpho and Drift, have institutional-grade compliance and programmable yield enough to become collateral in decentralized finance.

Tokenized US Treasuries make up about $7.5 billion of the market, according to the RedStone report. Platforms like Ondo Finance and Backed are now issuing short-term Treasury products to both institutional and retail participants.

According to DeFiLlama data as of June 26, 2025, the largest RWA protocols by total value locked (TVL) are BlackRock’s BUIDL fund with $2.864 billion, Ethena’s synthetic USDtb token with $1.46 billion, and Ondo Finance with $1.392 billion.

Commodity-backed RWAs such as Paxos Gold and Tether Gold also contribute significantly, holding $897 million and $821 million respectively. Overall, the market now surpasses $12 billion in publicly tracked on-chain TVL.

A recent report from Binance Research estimates that tokenized private credit represents 58% of total RWA value, with US Treasuries making up 34%. The remainder is distributed among commodity-backed tokens and newer categories like tokenized real estate. 

On March 18, law firm Caldwell confirmed that the $10 billion TVL mark had already been crossed, marking one of the fastest growth cycles in the digital asset sector.

Oracles adapt to data paradigm

RedStone’s report also explained how traditional crypto assets use high-frequency oracles to track real-time exchange prices. 

On the flip side, RWAs require pricing mechanisms based on Net Asset Value (NAV), which are updated daily or weekly and derived from fund administrators or custodians. Instead of focusing on speed, oracles must now prioritize accuracy and auditability. 

“RWAs aren’t volatile tokens,” said Kaźmierczak. “You’re dealing with assets that don’t move every second but carry legal and financial obligations.”

RedStone and Chainlink are adapting to these needs by giving investors purpose-built oracle feeds for tokenized fund options, private credit instruments, and yield-bearing stablecoins. With these tools, DeFi platforms interacting with RWAs provide accurate, regulatory-aligned valuations.

Institutional access to tokenized funds through DeFi

Permissioned networks like Aave’s Horizon, Maple, Spark, and Pendle’s Citadels have several ways for accredited investors to buy tokenized securities, and for retail users to provide liquidity or earn yield through derivatives.

RedStone asserted that Ethereum is the leading public blockchain for RWA integration, hosting over $7.5 billion in tokenized value. ZKSync is not far behind when it comes to private credit issuance, particularly through relationships with Victory Park Capital.

In parallel, traditional finance-backed blockchains such as the Canton Network, supported by Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, and DTCC, are now processing tokenized repos and bond transactions in the trillions. 

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