RWA Market Semi-Annual Report: Scale Surges by 48%, Private Credit and Government Bonds Dominate

In the first half of 2025, the real-world asset (RWA) tokenization market experienced significant growth. As of June 6, the global RWA market capitalization reached $23.39 billion (excluding stablecoins), a 48.9% increase from the beginning of the year. Private credit and U.S. Treasury bonds have become the dominant forces in the market, collectively accounting for nearly 90% of the share.

However, behind this impressive achievement, there are also many challenges. Issues such as a high concentration of asset classes, limited liquidity, insufficient transparency, and a low correlation with the native crypto ecosystem still exist. It will take time for RWA to become a truly mainstream track.

Private Credit and U.S. Treasuries Dominate the Market

Private lending has become the hottest asset type in the RWA market, with a scale of $13.5 billion, accounting for 57.7%. Among them, a certain blockchain fintech service platform ranks first with an active loan amount of $10.19 billion, mainly providing Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) services.

U.S. Treasury bonds are the second largest RWA asset class. A certain asset management company has issued digital tokens with a total issuance amount of approximately $2.9 billion, dominating the market. This type of RWA converts traditional U.S. dollar-denominated assets into digital tokens, providing greater flexibility and around-the-clock liquidity.

Commodities are the third largest RWA asset class, mainly tokenized gold, with a total market value of approximately $1.51 billion.

Changes in the Public Chain Landscape

Ethereum remains the preferred network for RWA assets, with a market capitalization of $7.4 billion, accounting for 55%. A certain Layer 2 solution unexpectedly became the second largest RWA public chain, with an asset issuance volume of $2.25 billion, mainly due to the contribution of an asset management company.

Another surprising fact is that a well-established public chain has jumped to third place, with an RWA asset issuance volume of approximately $498 million. This is mainly due to collaborations with traditional financial institutions and its recent developments in smart contract platforms.

Although a certain popular public chain ranks fourth, it is growing rapidly. Since January 2025, its RWA issuance has increased by 101%, mainly consisting of U.S. Treasury bonds.

Market Challenges

Despite the impressive data, the RWA market still faces many challenges:

1. Asset class concentration: Private credit and U.S. Treasury bonds dominate, but some projects lack transparency and have limited liquidity.

2. Competition among Stablecoins: RWA products backed by U.S. Treasury bonds face competitive pressure from yield-bearing stablecoins.

3. Insufficient asset diversification: The proportion of other asset types such as commodities, stocks, and funds is still relatively low, and development is restricted by multiple factors.

4. Limited market size: The total size is only $23.3 billion, far lower than the stablecoin market, and significantly below the expected trillion-scale.

5. High barrier to entry: Currently primarily aimed at institutions and large investors, with low participation from ordinary investors.

Overall, the RWA market achieved nearly 50% growth in the first half of 2025, forming a dual-head pattern with private credit and U.S. Treasury bonds. However, to truly become a new chapter in finance, the RWA market still needs breakthroughs in transparency, liquidity, and ecological integration.