Tokenization Revolution Hits Mainstream Markets

Real-world asset tokenization has reached mainstream markets, allowing users to trade slices of Treasury funds and pre-IPO unicorns on-chain. According to BlackRock's Larry Fink, 'every stock, every bond, every fund, every asset can be tokenized.'

In the past year, RWA (real-world assets) tokenization has moved from white papers and pilot programs into live markets. Tokenization turns a claim on a real-world asset into a token on a blockchain, offering fractional ownership, round-the-clock settlement, and direct access to DeFi.

Tokenized Treasuries and money market funds dominate the market, with Circle's USYC product leading the charge, holding around $3 billion in short-term US Treasuries. Other notable platforms include BlackRock's BUIDL, Franklin Templeton's BENJI, and XStocks from Backed Finance.

On-chain stocks are also gaining momentum, with tokenized equities climbing 2,878% to around $963 million by January 2026. The Hyperliquid platform is particularly notable, allowing users to stake HYPE and launch their own perpetual markets, which have seen significant trading volume in just a few months.

BNB Chain is emerging as a leader in RWA tokenization, with a TVL (total value locked) of around $4 billion across 14 active issuers. Ethereum still leads the market share, with around 50% of real-world assets tokenized on the chain.