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RWAs exceed $25 billion after nearly quadrupling in a year

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(RWA.xyz)

Six asset classes now exceed $1 billion onchain, but just 12% of RWA-backed stablecoin supply has entered DeFi protocols.

Tokenized real-world assets, excluding stablecoins, have crossed $25 billion in onchain value, nearly quadrupling from roughly $6.4 billion a year earlier, according to data from RWA.xyz.

(RWA.xyz)
(RWA.xyz)

The milestone, and continued growth, as RWAs hit the $20 billion mark at the end of 2025, continues a shift from early experimentation toward institutional-scale deployment. Asset managers, including BlackRock, Fidelity, and WisdomTree, have launched tokenized fund products over the past year, while the number of tokenized U.S. Treasury offerings alone expanded from 35 to over 50, according to data compiled by Nexus Data Labs.

Six tokenized asset categories have now crossed the $1 billion threshold: U.S. Treasuries, commodities, private credit, institutional alternative funds, corporate bonds, and non-U.S. government debt, according to RWA.xyz data.

Issuance outpaces integration

Still, much of the activity reflects asset issuance rather than active trading.

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Despite the growth in supply, much of the activity reflects asset issuance rather than active trading. Onchain transfer data shows many of the largest RWA transactions clustering around $10 million per transfer, a pattern consistent with institutional allocation batching rather than continuous market activity.

A February 2026 survey from tokenization platform Brickken reinforced the point: 53.8% of tokenized asset issuers said capital formation and fundraising efficiency are their primary motivation for tokenizing, while just 15.4% cited liquidity.

Even when assets move onchain, most remain walled off from decentralized finance.

Nexus Data Labs estimates roughly $8.49 billion in RWA-backed stablecoin supply exists, but only about $1 billion, or 11.8%, is currently deployed in DeFi protocols.

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The remaining 88% sits outside onchain lending and trading systems, largely because the underlying assets impose compliance requirements, including KYC checks, transfer restrictions, and whitelisting.

That gap frames the sector’s central question heading into the second half of the year. Tokenized asset supply is growing fast enough that some projections place the market above $400 billion by year-end.

Whether those assets remain siloed in permissioned structures or begin integrating with the composable collateral, lending, and trading systems that define DeFi will likely determine whether tokenization scales as a parallel settlement layer for traditional finance or becomes something structurally different.

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Crypto World

Bitcoin ETF Flows Rise As Gold Demand Cools: What’s Next for BTC?

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Cryptocurrencies, Israel, Gold, Bitcoin Price, Bitcoin Analysis, Adoption, Iran, Markets, Price Analysis, Market Analysis, Bitcoin ETF, ETF

Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) flows have turned net positive over the past 30 days, while gold ETF demand has started to slow down after nine straight months of inflows. The shift comes even as gold prices remain elevated and sentiment around Bitcoin continues to cool.

With these contrasting trends in ETF flows and the historical pattern of Bitcoin-to-gold performance cycles, analysts are now examining data that may signal a gradual shift in investor demand between the two assets. 

Are ETF flows beginning to rotate?

According to the Kobeissi Letter, the largest US gold-backed ETF, GLD, recorded a $3 billion outflow on Wednesday, the largest daily withdrawal in more than two years. The move followed a 4.4% decline in gold prices, the sharpest drop since the Jan. 30 sell-off.

Gold ETFs had attracted $18.7 billion in January and another $5.3 billion in February, marking the strongest two-month start to a year on record and extending a nine-month inflow streak. The latest outflow points to investors taking profits after gold’s massive rally in 2025.

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Bitcoin ETF flows moved in the opposite direction over the past month. The 30-day net flow shifted to a $273 million inflow on March 6 from a $1.9 billion outflow on Feb. 6

Cryptocurrencies, Israel, Gold, Bitcoin Price, Bitcoin Analysis, Adoption, Iran, Markets, Price Analysis, Market Analysis, Bitcoin ETF, ETF
Bitcoin and gold net ETF inflows over the past 30-days. Source: bold.report

The holdings data measured in native units show the divergence more clearly. Bitcoin ETF balances moved to a net increase of 4,021 BTC on March 6 from −42,275 BTC on Feb. 6. Gold ETF holdings declined from 1.4 million ounces to 621,100 ounces during the same period.

The native units represent the actual underlying asset held by funds rather than the dollar value of those holdings. Tracking BTC or ounces isolates real accumulation or distribution without the distortion created by the price movements.

Head of growth at Horizon, Joe Consorti, summarized the current trend and said,  

“Gold is stalling out while bitcoin is soaring. BTC is set to overtake gold’s % growth over the last month as the U.S. economy accelerates and risk sentiment improves. The anticipated risk-off → risk-on rotation could be underway.”

Related: Bitcoin dip may not be over as retail ramps up buying below $70K: Santiment

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Gold rallies precede Bitcoin recoveries

In a “2026 Look Ahead” report released at the end of December 2025, Fidelity Digital Assets analyst Chris Kuiper noted that gold’s 65% return in 2025 was the fourth-largest annual gain since the end of the gold standard. With respect to past rallies, Kuiper noted that gold is potentially near the late stages of its leadership cycle between the two assets. Kuiper said, 

“Historically, gold and bitcoin have taken turns outperforming. With gold shining in 2025, it would not be surprising if bitcoin takes the lead next.”

However, the rotation may take some time to unfold in the market. 

Cryptocurrencies, Israel, Gold, Bitcoin Price, Bitcoin Analysis, Adoption, Iran, Markets, Price Analysis, Market Analysis, Bitcoin ETF, ETF
Bitcoin-to-gold ratio analysis. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

As illustrated in the chart, BTC needed roughly 147 days or 21 weeks to establish a sustained trend outperforming gold after Bitcoin’s 2022 bottom. The period marked a consolidation phase before the ratio began trending higher.

The BTC-to-gold ratio currently trades near the same consolidation zone seen during the earlier rotation phases in 2022-2023.

Kuiper also added that both assets can benefit from the persistent fiscal deficits, trade tensions, and geopolitical uncertainty as investors seek neutral stores of value outside traditional monetary systems.

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The ongoing US-Israel and Iran war has reinforced demand for traditional safe-haven assets, which previously supported gold rallies during periods of geopolitical stress.

Meanwhile, macroeconomic strategist Lyn Alden expects Bitcoin to outperform gold over the next two to three years following gold’s recent rally in the past few months. 

Related: When buying Bitcoin, don’t expect profit for at least 3 years: Data