Commodities Surge While Tokenized Funds Plummet in Mixed RWA Market Week

The tokenized real-world asset market experienced a mixed week in August, with commodities surging and stocks quietly gaining ground. Tokenized funds, however, cratered hard enough to drag the entire sector into negative territory.

According to Token Terminal data published on August 24, tokenized commodities added $297.5M in market cap over seven days. Gold-backed tokens like XAUT and PAXG were the primary engines of this growth, as traditional investors became nervous about other assets.

The tokenized commodities market cap hit roughly $7.5B earlier in August, a figure that would have sounded absurd just a couple of years ago. This surge was likely due to gold-backed tokens allowing investors to hold exposure to physical gold without dealing with vaults or logistical headaches.

While commodities were riding high, tokenized funds went the other direction, losing $674.2M and wiping out both gains and then some. The decline in this category was large enough to single-handedly flip the entire RWA market negative for the week, even with commodities and stocks posting gains.