Institutions Lead RWA Growth, Panel Says at Consensus Hong Kong

• Animoca Brands, Mastercard, and Robinhood said RWA growth is driven by big institutions.
• Most regular attendees said they haven’t added tokenized RWAs to their own portfolios yet.
• Tokenized RWAs surpass $24 billion, led by US bonds and commodities.

At this year’s Consensus Hong Kong conference, one of the biggest talking points was the growing use of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs). Leaders from companies like Animoca Brands, Mastercard, and Robinhood said that this wave of growth is being driven by big institutions, not just everyday crypto traders.

During the panel, several RWA-related things were discussed. One of the main ones was that big financial institutions are leading the next stage of tokenized assets, using blockchain to work more efficiently and see transactions more clearly. 

Experts also pointed to tokenized US bonds, money market funds, stablecoin tools, and smarter collateral use as the areas where such a shift is already well underway.

Panelists emphasized that blockchain can settle trades faster, reduce risk between trading partners, and provide clear, auditable records for markets that have long relied on slower, older systems. BlackRock’s COO called distributed ledgers one of the most transformative advances in finance since double-entry bookkeeping was invented.

Even though big investors are getting involved, most regular attendees said they haven’t added tokenized RWAs to their own portfolios yet. This shows there is still a need for clearer rules and more focused education before everyday people start using them in a big way. Having better retail interfaces would also help push that goal.

Beyond bonds and money funds, panelists highlighted other areas ripe for tokenization, including private loans, real estate, private company shares, and art. These are traditionally hard to trade or invest in, but tokenization could make them more accessible and easier to buy and sell.

RWAs Growth

According to rwa.xyz, on-chain figures show that the total value of tokenized RWAs is above $24 billion. Most of the growth comes from tokenized US government bonds, commodities, and gold-backed tokens. Ethereum remains the top network, but BNB Chain and Solana also control meaningful slices of the market.

Major financial institutions, such as UBS and the New York Stock Exchange, are building the systems needed to issue and trade tokenized assets. This includes setting up digital bond markets and creating stablecoins designed for institutions. These institutions are also developing compliant platforms where regulated financial products can be issued and settled directly on blockchain networks.

Related: RWAs Are Defining the Next Phase of Crypto Adoption—Chainlink Co-founder