According to investment bank Standard Chartered, tokenized real assets (RWA) could reach a cumulative value of $2 trillion over the next three years as more global capital and payments migrate to more competent blockchain rails.
In a report shared with Cointelegraph on Thursday, the bank said the “trustless” structure of decentralized finance (DeFi) could challenge the dominance of customary financial systems (TradFi) controlled by centralized entities.
The growing operate of DeFi in payments and investments could push the market capitalization of non-Stablecoin RWAs to $2 trillion by 2028, an investment bank predicts.
Of the $2 trillion, $750 billion is projected to flow into money market funds, another $750 billion to tokenized U.S. equities, $250 billion to tokenized U.S. funds, and another $250 billion to “less liquid” private equity segments, including commodities, corporate debt and tokenized real estate.
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“Stablecoin liquidity and DeFi banking are important prerequisites for the rapid development of tokenized RWAs,” said Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital asset research at Standard Chartered, who added:
“We expect risk-weighted assets to grow exponentially in the coming years.”
According to estimates, reaching a market capitalization of $2 trillion would mean a more than 57-fold augment in the value of risk-weighted assets over the next three years compared to their current cumulative value of $35 billion. data from RWA.xyz.
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Stablecoins power DeFi’s self-sustaining growth cycle
Total stablecoin supply reached a novel record of over $300 billion on October 3, a 46.8% year-to-date growth rate.
Kendrick said the expansion of stablecoins strengthens the broader DeFi ecosystem. “In DeFi, liquidity breeds new products, and new products breed new liquidity,” he wrote. “We believe that a self-sustaining DeFi growth cycle has begun.”
Despite the optimism, Standard Chartered said regulatory uncertainty remains the biggest risk to the risk-weighted asset sector. The report warned that progress could stall if the Trump administration fails to come up with comprehensive cryptocurrency regulations before the 2026 midterm elections.
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