Crypto Markets Shift from Issuance to Utilization

Crypto markets are shifting from token issuance to utilization, according to Binance Research. The report highlights the growth of real-world assets under management (AUM), which reached $34.18 billion as of September 15, 2026, a year-over-year increase of 85.2%. Bond and money-market funds accounted for 54.7% of this growth, while equities contributed 22.4%.

The report describes the current trend as the 'RWA Activation Era,' where tokenized assets become usable across various lending, exchanges, and collateral markets. Binance Research uses two measures to track this development: the Programmable Asset Ratio (PAR), which measures tokenized assets against their underlying markets, and the Capital Activation Rate (CAR), which measures how much of the tokenized asset base is deployed in verified on-chain financial applications.

The report notes that while tokenization remains a small part of the underlying market, with an overall PAR of approximately 0.01%, utilization becomes increasingly important. CAR stands at around 12%, indicating that about $3.84 billion of every $100 in tracked tokenized asset value is currently deployed.