Tokenized Ownership Revolution Hits $39B, But Integration with DeFi Remains a Challenge

The evolution of ownership in the web 3 era is a significant development in the financial and crypto landscape. The concept of tokenized ownership has gained momentum, with the total active market capitalization (TaMcap) of on-chain representative wealth assets (RWA) reaching $34 billion by 2021. This marked a shift from merely putting traditional assets on the blockchain to optimizing them to become financial infrastructure. The RWA market expanded to over $800 million in TaMcap in 2022, with the introduction of private credit on-chain and the growth of tokenized treasuries.

In 2023, crypto-native yields took a dive, but tokenized treasuries brought attractive yields for users, with a 752% increase from January to the end of the year. This growth in the tokenized market revealed the limitations of tokenization, particularly with real estate, where a token can function while the underlying asset experiences operational problems.

The market has continued to grow, with the RWA market reaching $39 billion in 2026. However, the integration of these assets in the crypto financial system still has a long way to go, with only $4 billion in DeFi active TVL against over $39 billion in on-chain RWA.