Comprehensive Analysis of RWA: Global Market Trend Analysis for 2025

Directory

1. Definition and Development of RWA
2. Market Size and Growth Trends
3. Technical Path and Core Standards
4. Typical Asset Classes and Applications
5. Global and Major Market Status
6. Overview of Regulatory Policies
7. Future Outlook and Potential Forecast

1. Definition and Development of RWA

RWA is the process of using blockchain technology to convert real-world assets into digital tokens. These tokens represent ownership or rights to the asset and can be traded and managed on the blockchain. The core goal of RWA is to address issues such as ownership confirmation difficulties, low circulation efficiency, and insufficient liquidity in traditional asset transactions through the characteristics of blockchain.

RWA tokenization involves three key stages:

1. Off-chain verification of rights: complete asset ownership confirmation and value assessment.
2. Asset Mapping on the Blockchain: Mapping asset rights to the blockchain to generate corresponding tokens.
3. On-chain governance: Automated management of profit distribution, staking liquidation, etc. through smart contracts.

The development history of RWA:

• 2017-2020: Conceptual emergence, early projects focused on the tokenization of real estate and art.
• 2021-2023: DeFi protocols begin to incorporate RWA, traditional financial institutions launch tokenized products.
• 2024-2025: Financial giants like BlackRock accelerate their layout, and the RWA market size exceeds 23 billion USD.

2. Market Size and Growth Trends

As of May 2025, the total value of on-chain RWA worldwide is approximately $23 billion. In March 2025, the TVL of RWA protocols exceeded $10 billion for the first time, with a year-on-year growth of nearly 140%.

Main Protocol TVL:

• MakerDAO (RWA Vaults): Approximately 1.3 billion USD
• Ondo Finance: $1.283 billion
• Centrifuge: 441 million USD
• BlackRock's BUIDL: approximately $1.4 billion

2030 Market Size Forecast:

• Boston Consulting: $16 trillion
• McKinsey: $2 trillion
• Citibank: 4-5 trillion USD
• 21.co: $3.5-10 trillion

Main growth trend:

1. Institutional participation accelerates: Traditional financial giants are entering the RWA space.
2. Technological evolution improves efficiency: Ethereum ecosystem dominates, with new technologies such as Layer2 continuously emerging.
3. Regulatory policies are becoming stricter: countries are beginning to formulate rules related to RWA to provide institutional guarantees for market development.

3. Technical Path and Core Standards

Technical Implementation Path:

1. Asset Onboarding and Tokenization Process

   • Asset Selection and Confirmation of Rights
   • Legality Audit and SPV Establishment
   • Token Issuance
   • Off-chain data integration
   • Value Guarantee Mechanism

2. Protocol technology stack supported by RWA

Core Standards and Tools:

• ERC-3643 (T-REX): Supports identity whitelisting, regulatory control, and permission management
• ERC-1400: A compliance framework for security tokens
• Chainlink / Pyth Oracles: Provide off-chain data synchronization such as price, asset status, etc.
• Multi-signature/Custody tools: such as Gnosis Safe, Anchorage Custody, etc.
• TEE ( Trusted Execution Environment ): Ensures the privacy and security of sensitive off-chain data in on-chain interactions.

4. Typical Asset Classes and Applications

Typical RWA asset types:

1. Debt-type assets

   • Ondo Finance: US Treasury Bond ETF Token
   • Maple Finance: Structured Credit Products
   • Centrifuge: Accounts receivable, invoices on-chain

2. Real estate assets

   • RealT: Tokenization of Real Estate in the USA
   • Propy: Real estate transactions and property registration on the blockchain
   • Lofty: Real Estate Fractional Investment Platform

3. Commodity Assets

   • PAXG: Gold-backed stablecoin
   • OpenCarbon: Carbon Credit Tokenization Platform
   • Tangible: Tokenization of physical assets such as liquor, watches, etc.

4. Other Real Assets

   • Re: Tokenization Platform for Insurance Risk Exposure
   • IP3 / Story Protocol: Intellectual Property Value on the Blockchain
   • Goldfinch: A microloan platform for emerging markets

RWA Practical Applications:

1. Investment-oriented RWA: providing value support for virtual assets based on the returns of real assets.
2. Financing-oriented RWA: Creating new financing channels for low liquidity assets

5. Global and Major Market Status

The global RWA market size exceeds 22 billion USD, with the United States and innovative platforms leading the trend.

U.S. Market:

• Institutions such as Ondo Finance and Franklin Templeton issue bond and fund tokens.
• DeFi platforms like MakerDAO and TrueFi promote private loans and on-chain lending.
• Financial giants such as BlackRock, Citigroup, and JP Morgan are actively positioning themselves.

China Market:

• Expand applications from the perspective of technology and the industrial chain.
• Pilot projects for energy and equipment asset on-chain have emerged.
• Ant Group and others proposed technical solutions for applications in charging and swapping, photovoltaics, and other fields.
• The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology is leading the drafting of RWA on-chain technical specifications.

Hong Kong market:

• The Monetary Authority has launched the "Ensemble Project Sandbox", covering multiple tokenization scenarios.
• Support compliant custody services and actively promote the landing of RWA.

6. Overview of Regulatory Policies

Hong Kong Regulatory Policy:

• A dual-track regulatory model based on "asset attributes as the main focus and technology supervision as a supplement"
• The Securities Regulatory Commission issued statements and circulars related to STO, establishing a regulatory framework.
• Gradually relax restrictive policies to reflect inclusiveness towards innovation.

U.S. Regulatory Policy:

• Functional regulatory model based on the Howey Test
• The SEC assesses whether it falls under the jurisdiction of securities regulation from multiple dimensions.
• There are legal loopholes and regulatory gray areas, making compliance paths complicated.

Dubai Regulatory Policy:

• VARA and DFSA dual regulatory framework
• Release the guidelines for virtual asset issuance, including RWA token terms.
• Launch a tokenized regulatory sandbox to support innovative project testing.

7. Future Outlook and Potential Forecast

1. Institutional capital accelerates entry: More traditional financial giants are positioning themselves in RWA.

2. Diversification of asset types: More traditional assets are included in the tokenization category.

3. Technology and standards upgrade: Standard protocols and new technologies aimed at RWA are constantly emerging.

4. Improved regulatory system: Various regions are gradually formulating targeted policies and a unified framework.

5. Integration of Green Finance and Innovation: Green Assets Become a Hot Topic in RWA

It is expected that by 2030, the global tokenized asset market size could reach approximately $16 trillion. RWA will become an important bridge connecting traditional finance and blockchain, ushering in a new era of digital finance.