Only 10% of Tokenized RWAs Used in DeFi | Report Reveals Infrastructure Challenges
A new report by BitMart, Dune, RedStone, and Optimism highlights a concerning trend in the tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) market, revealing that only 10% of these assets are actively utilized as collateral in DeFi. With the total value locked (TVL) in this segment soaring, major infrastructure issues remain that hinder further adoption.
RWA Market Growth: Rapid Expansion
From early 2025 until April 2026, the RWA market surged from approximately $6 billion to around $30 billion—an impressive growth of nearly five times in just 15 months. Despite this, only $2.7 billion (10%) of the $27 billion in tokenized RWAs is used in DeFi lending markets, meaning a staggering 90% remains inactive in wallets as yield-bearing assets. A forum respondent noted, "90% idle = massive unlock if composability gets fixed. RWA TVL 5x in 15 months is wild too."
Why Isn’t More Capital in Use?
The report identifies three critical barriers holding back RWA utilization:
Custody Standards: Current standards fail to meet the needs of institutional investors.
Cross-Chain Liquidity: The need for better mechanisms to ensure seamless transactions persists.
Institutional Reporting Infrastructure: Enhanced reporting frameworks are essential for building trust.
"The bottleneck for RWAs feels more like DeFi infrastructure and composability than regulation," another comment pointed out, emphasizing the significance of these gaps.
Key Asset Insights
The breakdown of tokenized RWAs reveals:
Treasuries make up 48.5% of total assets under management (AUM) but only account for 2% of DeFi deposits.
Private credit comprises 17% of AUM and captures about 80% of DeFi deposits.
This discrepancy is largely due to yield economics; private credit offers returns of 6% or more, compared to stablecoin borrowing rates around 3%, enabling users to employ effective capital allocation strategies.
High-Net-Worth (HNW) Opportunity
An intriguing detail is the potential market expansion; the global high-net-worth population controls roughly $90 trillion in investable assets. If just 5% of this was allocated to RWAs, it could expand the market by 160 times. Furthermore, Hamilton Lane’s recent tokenized private equity fund has set a minimum investment at $10,000, making it more accessible.
Regulatory Landscape = Progress?
The introduction of the GENIUS Act and MiCA regulations, along with Hong Kong's Stablecoin Ordinance, shows that a legal framework is taking shape. Yet the fundamental progress will depend on overcoming existing technical shortcomings.
Looking Ahead: Future Potential
Experts predict a potential rise in RWA utilization rates from the current 10% to between 30% and 40% by 2028, driven primarily by improvements in custody solutions and cross-chain liquidity. The sentiment around this transformation is optimistic, as better infrastructure could unlock previously dormant capital.
Takeaways
🚀 RWA market to grow from $6B to ~$30B in 15 months.
📉 10% of tokenized RWAs actively used in DeFi markets.
💰 HNW assets of $90T present a massive opportunity for tokenized RWAs.
📊 "Seeing that idle capital finally get put to work is the kind of market maturity we need," remarked a community member.
As stakeholders in the crypto and DeFi space continue to push for infrastructure advancements, the question remains: will the infrastructure catch up to growing demand for tokenized RWAs?