Real-world assets (RWAs) are gaining traction as investors seek stable, yield-generating alternatives amid Bitcoin’s recent price stagnation and global market uncertainties.
RWA tokenization refers to financial products and tangible assets like real estate and fine art minted on the blockchain, increasing investor accessibility and trading opportunities of these assets.
Bitcoin (BTC) fell below the $100,000 psychological mark on Feb. 4 after investor sentiment was hit by global trade war concerns as global trade war concerns intensified following new import tariffs announced by the US and China.
Bitcoin’s lack of momentum may attract more investment into RWAs, wrote Alexander Loktev, chief revenue officer at P2P.org, an institutional staking and crypto infrastructure provider.
Bitcoin’s crab walk may lead to new all-time highs for onchain RWAs in 2025, Loktev told Cointelegraph, adding:
“Given the recent moves we’ve seen from major financial institutions, particularly BlackRock and JPMorgan’s growing involvement in tokenization, I believe we could hit $50 billion in TVL.”
Traditional finance (TradFi) institutions are “starting to view tokenized assets as a serious bridge to DeFi,” driven by institutions looking for digital asset investments with “predictable yields,” added Loktev.
The prediction comes shortly after onchain RWAs surpassed a cumulative all-time high of $17.1 billion across 82,000 asset holders, Cointelegraph reported on Feb. 3.
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Can RWAs attract 1% of the $450 trillion global asset market?
Thanks to their ability to democratize investor access and create more liquidity, RWAs are set to attract a significant share of the $450 trillion global asset market, according to Marcin Kazmierczak, co-founder and chief operating officer of blockchain oracle solution RedStone.
“While Bitcoin’s price movement remains uncertain, RWAs are gaining traction due to increasing institutional adoption and developing blockchain infrastructure in traditional finance,” Kazmierczak told Cointelegraph, adding:
“Traditional financial markets handle over $450 trillion in total global assets, with institutional investors managing roughly $100 trillion. Even a modest 1–2% shift of these assets to blockchain-based RWAs could drive significant growth in 2025.”
“The growth potential is substantial as blockchain technology offers fundamentally more efficient, borderless and composable rails in comparison to legacy TradFi systems,” he added.
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Crypto volatility may invite more institutional investment into RWAs
RWAs may emerge as one of the leading crypto investment narratives for 2025.
More downside volatility in crypto markets, like this week’s $10 billion liquidation event, will likely invite more institutional investment into RWAs, Bhaji Illuminati, chief marketing officer at Centrifuge, an RWA-based DeFi lending protocol.
“Huge swings in crypto prices always serve as a reminder of the importance of stable, yield-bearing assets. RWAs, especially fixed income, provide exactly that: a portfolio hedge against crypto volatility,” Illuminati told Cointelegraph.
She added that RWAs represent a long-term shift in capital allocation, favoring real economic value over speculative hype.
Several management consulting firms project that the RWA market could grow 50-fold by 2030, reaching up to $30 trillion, as traditional financial institutions continue integrating blockchain technology.
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