Tokenized Assets Growth Still Lags Behind Traditional Markets

The tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) is growing rapidly, but its footprint within global finance remains relatively small. According to a new report from Binance Research, RWA assets under management (AUM) reached $34.18 billion as of September 15, representing an increase of 85.2% since the start of 2026.

The majority of this growth is attributed to tokenized equities, which surged by 390.4% year-to-date to $4.43 billion. However, even at this rate, tokenized stocks capture only a tiny fraction of the traditional equity market, representing less than 0.003% of the global listed-equity market.

Binance Research estimates that only 12% of tokenized capital is active on-chain, highlighting a significant gap between asset issuance and utilization. To bridge this gap, the sector needs to find productive uses for tokenized assets beyond simply existing as blockchain representations.