RWAs become DeFi’s fifth-largest sector – Assessing the $17B rise
Having began the yr outdoors the highest ten, real-world property (RWAs) are on the middle of DeFi now! Right here’s the rundown.
Not a distinct segment anymore
RWAs have overtaken DEXs to change into the fifth-largest class by TVL, holding over $17 billion.
Supply: DeFiLlama
However the place is this growth coming from?
Supply: DeFiLlama
The RWA market is increasingly dominated by a small group of protocols. Tether Gold, Securitize, Paxos Gold, Circle’s USYC, and Ondo collectively account for almost all. Smaller gamers make up a shrinking share.
Since early 2025, their mixed dominance has steadily elevated.
One chain dominates it all: Ethereum [ETH].
Over $12 billion of RWA worth now sits on the Ethereum Mainnet. That’s greater than half of the complete market. After briefly shedding share to newer chains, Ethereum is regaining dominance once more.
Supply: rwa.xyz
The change is exhibiting up within the returns
RWAs are probably the most worthwhile crypto narrative of 2025, per CoinGecko. They’ve delivered 185.8% YTD, far forward of each different sector.
Supply: CoinGecko
Solely Layer 1s (80.3%) and “Made in USA” tokens (30.6%) managed to remain inexperienced, whereas DeFi, DEXs, AI, and gaming all posted losses.
A closer look will let you know that RWA’s efficiency was helped by outsized winners like Keeta Community (+1,794.9%), Zebec (+217.3%), and Maple Finance (+123%).
That stated, returns are far decrease than 2024’s explosive 819% run. The bracket is maturing, maybe.
Right here’s extra…
Tokenization is creating balance-sheet grade commodities.
Supply: DeFiLlama
Gold-backed tokens dominate, with Tether Gold ($2.29B) and Paxos Gold ($1.6B) main by a large margin. These property verify all of the containers establishments care about, that are redeemability, attestations, custody, and liquidity.
Supply: Token Terminal
On the identical time, tokenized equities are scaling quick too. Market cap has surged previous $1.2 billion, hitting an ATH.
Ultimate Ideas
- RWAs have surged to over $17B in TVL and now rank as DeFi’s fifth-largest sector.
- Ethereum hosts $12B+ in RWAs and tokenized shares have hit a $1.2B ATH.
