RWAs: Who Really Captures Value in the Tokenization Stack?

Introduction

The tokenization of real-world assets (Real-World Assets, RWAs) is often presented as a multi-trillion-dollar opportunity. Maybe. But this is not the question that matters most today, as it hides a far more central issue in 2026: who will actually capture value once assets move on-chain?

In 2025, RWAs changed status. Long confined to experimental projects, tokenization became a fully-fledged on-chain market. Total RWA value grew from around $3 billion in 2022 to more than $35 billion by the end of 2025, driven both by the arrival of institutional players and by growing demand for on-chain yield products backed by regulated assets.

This rise has profoundly transformed on-chain finance. Projects are now building products around asset custody, issuer controls, identity verification, and transfer rules. Secondary liquidity increasingly depends on the existence of compliant trading venues, the ability of assets to move across platforms, and the management of regulatory constraints by jurisdiction.

RWAs therefore do not constitute a single, homogeneous asset class. They rely on a stack of interdependent layers, each ranging from blockchains and custody to distribution platforms. All of these layers are necessary for the system to function properly, but they do not capture value or power in the same way.

In 2026, understanding RWAs is not only about analyzing which assets are tokenized and why, but about identifying where control points sit within this stack, and how economic value flows and is redistributed among the different actors. That is precisely the goal of this article.

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Overview of the RWA stack

The RWA sector does not rely on a single category of actors, but on a stack composed of several distinct layers, each playing a specific role in transforming a traditional asset into a usable on-chain investment instrument. All of these layers are necessary for the system to function, but they do not participate equally in value capture.

Some correspond to clearly identifiable operational actors (blockchains, custody, issuers, etc.), while others represent transversal functions that condition the ability of the former to deploy correctly, attract capital, and operate at scale.

Operational layers

Operational layers include the actors directly involved in the issuance, circulation, and access to RWAs. They structure the RWA market on a daily basis, concentrate most control points, and capture a significant share of the value created.

• Rails (blockchains and custody)

Rails form the base layer of the RWA stack. They include blockchains and custody solutions that allow tokenized assets to exist, circulate, and be securely stored. This layer ensures value transfer, near-instant settlement, and synchronization between the underlying asset and its on-chain representation.

It is indispensable, but tends to standardize over time. As the market matures, value concentrates on infrastructures perceived as the most secure and robust. Rails are essential to system operation, but capture relatively little value compared to higher layers in the stack.

• Issuers

The issuer layer represents the first critical control point in the RWA stack. Issuers decide which assets are tokenized, how they are structured, what level of risk is accepted, and under which conditions investors can enter or exit.

Whether U.S. Treasuries, private credit, equities, or commodities, all of these products rely on off-chain legal and financial structures that must then be correctly represented on-chain. Issuers do not merely provide an asset; they guarantee the legal and economic coherence of everything built above them.

• Distribution

Distribution includes platforms, applications, and interfaces (money markets, DEXs, etc.) through which investors access RWAs. It determines which products are visible, accessible, and usable, as well as how easily capital can be deployed.

In practice, it is not necessarily the most sophisticated asset that attracts the most flows, but the one that is easiest to access and best integrated into existing user journeys. Distribution directly conditions adoption, liquidity, and scaling speed. Whoever controls access ultimately controls capital circulation.

Conditioning layers

Conditioning layers do not correspond to a single actor or clearly defined category. They are transversal criteria that determine the ability of operational layers to function, inspire trust, and sustainably capture value.

• Regulation, compliance, and redemption mechanisms

Regulation is a central component of RWA tokenization. KYC processes, access controls, transfer rules, and redemption mechanisms do not disappear with blockchain and must be properly integrated into products.

This layer conditions institutional investor access, recognition of rights attached to tokens, and the ability to operate at scale across multiple jurisdictions. Jurisdiction choice is therefore one of the most strategic decisions, as regulatory frameworks vary significantly.

In our year-end report, we detailed the differences across jurisdictions for RWAs: the United States, the European Union, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and offshore jurisdictions.

• Liquidity and secondary markets

Liquidity is the meeting point between the theoretical promise of tokenization and its real utility. An asset may be perfectly structured and compliant, but if it cannot be traded, used as collateral, or easily exited, its practical value remains limited.

Depth of secondary markets, the existence of compliant platforms, and lending mechanisms determine the ability of RWAs to fully integrate into financial strategies. With liquidity, the other layers become truly usable.

• Risk and financial engineering

Risk management and structuring are the final determinants of value capture. Overcollateralization, tranching, insurance, and leverage transform simple assets into more complex financial products suited to different investor profiles.

Historically, this is where finance has always captured a significant share of value. In the RWA universe, this layer is still under construction, but it represents one of the main long-term value creation levers.

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Main types of tokenized assets

After outlining the structure of the RWA stack, we can observe how this logic applies concretely to the different asset classes already present on-chain. Not all display the same level of maturity or value capture potential, but each illustrates a specific facet of tokenization.

Stablecoins

Stablecoins are the cornerstone of the RWA market. They play a central role in nearly all on-chain flows related to real-world assets, serving as unit of account, payment medium, and settlement tool for most tokenized products.

Initially perceived as simple digital dollar equivalents, stablecoins have evolved significantly. A large share is now backed by very high-quality real-world assets, primarily short-term U.S. Treasury bills. This structure explains both their stability and their growing appeal among institutional players, who view them as liquid, predictable instruments compatible with operational constraints.

Stablecoins therefore play a dual role in the RWA stack. On one hand, they are the primary liquidity rail allowing capital to enter and exit the ecosystem. On the other, they already represent one of the largest tokenization use cases through their reserves, which correspond to massive portfolios of sovereign debt that are effectively tokenized.

In practice, stablecoins are not just products, but infrastructure. They ensure settlement continuity, market fluidity, and connectivity between traditional finance and on-chain finance. As such, they capture a structural share of the value generated across the entire RWA market.

• Spotlight: Ethena (USDe)

Ethena is a decentralized protocol behind several stablecoins, the most well-known being USDe, a synthetic dollar backed by a delta-neutral strategy generating annualized yields ranging from 5% to 15% depending on market conditions.

In September 2025, Ethena announced the launch of a new service: Ethena Whitelabel. This is a stablecoin-as-a-service infrastructure that allows any blockchain, application, or wallet to launch a stablecoin while minimizing the technical complexity typically involved.

This is a major innovation because it addresses the stablecoin tax problem. The stablecoin sector is structured around the Tether-Circle duopoly, which now represents 95% of the market. More importantly, these two players generate massive revenues, amounting to several billions of dollars, thanks to the scale of their collateral.

By contrast, blockchains, protocols, and users, who nonetheless enable the existence and distribution of stablecoins, capture none of that value. This value leakage outside ecosystems is a major issue, and it is precisely what Ethena aims to address with USDe.

U.S. Treasuries

Tokenized U.S. sovereign debt is currently the most mature and dominant RWA segment. By transforming the safest and most liquid assets in the global financial system into tokens, issuers provide investors with continuous access, near-instant settlement, and fractional ownership.

The primary use case for these products is clear: providing a secure, yield-bearing, and regulation-compliant collateral asset within on-chain finance protocols. Tokenized Treasuries directly connect crypto investors to U.S. sovereign debt yields without relying on traditional financial rails.

Starting in 2023, when Federal Reserve policy rates exceeded the yields offered by most stablecoins, institutional interest in these products increased significantly. The combination of credible yields, continuous liquidity, and collateral utility progressively positioned tokenized Treasuries as a robust alternative for on-chain treasury management.

Some key metrics:

• Since early 2023, the market capitalization of leading tokenized Treasury products has grown from near zero to almost $9 billion.
• Tokenized Treasuries recorded $4.4 billion in growth in 2025 (+85%).
• BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) largely dominates the market, followed by Circle’s USYC and several Ondo products.
• Ethereum leads adoption of tokenized Treasuries, followed by Arbitrum, Polygon, BNB Chain, and Solana.
• Securitize is the leading tokenization provider, despite strong growth from WisdomTree, Franklin Templeton, and Centrifuge.

This segment perfectly illustrates how value shifts toward issuers capable of structuring simple, regulated, and easily integrable products, rather than toward purely technical infrastructure providers.

• Spotlight: BUIDL (BlackRock)

BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) is the first tokenized fund launched by BlackRock. It brings on-chain a traditional institutional money market fund strategy, combining daily yield distribution, multi-chain access, and deep liquidity through partners such as Securitize and Circle.

BUIDL is distributed via Securitize, a U.S.-regulated platform. This allows it to target institutional clients with high minimum ticket sizes, a stable net asset value fixed at $1, and daily yield paid on-chain. The fund is deployed across multiple blockchains via Wormhole (Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, and Aptos).

BlackRock’s tokenized fund now exceeds $2.5 billion in assets under management, confirming strong institutional commitment despite a very limited number of holders, with only 93 investors.

Non-U.S. Sovereign Debt

Tokenization of non-U.S. sovereign debt extends the benefits observed with U.S. Treasuries to other public issuers. It simplifies access to bonds issued by foreign governments while significantly reducing the operational complexity associated with cross-border investments.

In traditional markets, purchasing foreign sovereign debt involves multiple intermediaries, jurisdiction-specific settlement constraints, and sometimes long settlement delays. Tokenization makes these assets more accessible, with faster settlement and improved capital efficiency, while maintaining a regulatory framework suitable for institutional investors.

Although this segment remains smaller in size, it reflects a clear trend toward geographic diversification of RWAs. Value capture here depends heavily on issuers’ ability to navigate local regulatory frameworks and offer products that are understandable and usable by global investors.

The non-U.S. sovereign RWA market is largely dominated by issuers based in Hong Kong (67% market share) and France (30%), corresponding to the main tokenized funds identified in this category, with ChinaAMC for Asia and Spiko for Europe.

• Spotlight: Spiko

Spiko is a French fintech founded in 2023 that has established itself as the largest European issuer of euro-denominated tokenized money market funds. It enables companies to allocate treasury capital into funds backed by French, British, and U.S. government bonds.

In January 2026, the company announced that it had obtained MiFID investment management status, granted by the ACPR and the AMF, allowing it to offer its services across the entire European Union in full regulatory compliance.

Spiko was one of the fastest-growing protocols in 2025. Its TVL grew from $130 million to over $730 million during the year. These assets are distributed across the Spiko Euro fund ($523 million), the Spiko Dollar fund ($202 million), and the Spiko Pound fund, launched in December.

Private Credit

Private credit is one of the highest-potential segments for tokenization. Historically illiquid and restricted to professional investors, it is particularly well suited to on-chain representation due to transparency of cash flows and automated loan monitoring.

Tokenization enables non-listed debt instruments, such as corporate loans or trade finance, to be transformed into smaller, potentially tradable units. It improves liquidity for lenders and broadens funding sources for borrowers, while providing real-time tracking of collateral, repayment schedules, and cash flows.

This segment highlights a key aspect of the RWA stack: value does not reside solely in the underlying asset, but in the ability to structure, analyze, and manage risk. As the market matures, differentiation increasingly depends on underwriting quality and the credibility of the structures deployed.

• Spotlight: Maple Finance

Maple is a clear example of demand for on-chain finance products backed by private credit. The protocol offers permissioned pools backed by BTC lending, as well as permissionless pools around syrupUSD through syrupUSDC and syrupUSDT. This allows Maple to serve both KYC-compliant institutional clients and crypto-native users.

In 2025, Maple experienced remarkable growth. Assets under management exceeded $4.5 billion (+800%), total institutional borrowing reached $1.7 billion, and revenues approached $11.7 million (+370%).

One of Maple’s key strengths is its understanding that, for RWA products, distribution is one of the most critical building blocks, as discussed earlier. The protocol multiplied integrations across new blockchains and major partners to create concrete use cases for syrupUSDC and syrupUSDT.

In 2025, Maple deployed its products on Solana via Kamino and Jupiter, on Plasma via Midas, on Arbitrum via Fluid, Euler, and Aave, and more recently on Base via Aave as well.

Tokenized Equities

Tokenized equities are digital representations of listed or private company shares, enabling continuous trading outside traditional market hours and faster settlement. For public equities, these tokens are generally backed by shares held in custody. For private equity, tokenization simplifies cap table management and enables compliant secondary markets.

This segment has primarily been driven by demand for asset exposure rather than yield generation. It attracts a broader, often retail-oriented user base and highlights the central role of distribution and user experience in value capture.

Tokenized equities demonstrate that even when the underlying asset is well known, value concentrates less on the asset itself than on the ability to organize access, liquidity, and compliance. For now, most activity is driven by perpetual markets, although initiatives have emerged to integrate spot ownership of tokenized equities into on-chain finance.

The sector was catalyzed by Robinhood’s announcement, followed by launches from Backed Finance with xStocks and Ondo Global Markets. The number of tokenized equity holders far exceeds that of other tokenized asset categories, with more than 100,000 holders in one year. This reflects a predominantly retail investor base, more focused on exposure than yield.

From a perps market perspective, growth is visible in Hyperliquid HIP 3 markets specialized in tokenized equities, notably Trade.xyz and Markets, which generate more than $800 million in daily volume.

• Spotlight: xStocks by Backed Finance

Backed Finance is an infrastructure provider issuing on-chain representations of traditional financial assets, including equities, ETFs, and bonds. Acquired by Kraken in December 2025, the company had launched xStocks in June, offering tokenized equities backed by real shares held with Swiss custody partners.

xStocks are now integrated across several centralized platforms, including Kraken, Gate, Bybit, and Bitget, and are available on Ethereum, Solana, and Tron. Currently, more than 70 assets are tokenized via xStocks, representing $215 million in AUM for nearly 60,000 holders. This accounts for 23% of the tokenized equities market.

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The major winners of RWAs in 2026

In 2026, the question is no longer whether tokenization will continue to grow, but where value truly concentrates as the market scales. Tokenized assets are multiplying, but value capture remains uneven. It is primarily shaped around three categories of actors that control issuance, distribution, and trust.

Stablecoin issuers

Stablecoin issuers are expected to remain the primary beneficiaries of RWA growth. Even in more challenging market environments, total stablecoin supply tends to grow mechanically alongside increases in payment, trading, and tokenization volumes.

Beyond their role as settlement instruments, stablecoins are increasingly used as collateral, treasury management tools, and cash management solutions for on-chain institutions. As regulatory clarity improves in the United States and Europe, this segment should continue to attract new entrants while reinforcing the positions of dominant players.

• Actors to watch: Tether, Circle, Ethena, Sky, Paxos, PayPal

Tokenized financial asset issuers

Tokenized financial asset issuers include asset managers, fintechs, and eventually sovereign institutions. Their role is to provide the infrastructure required to issue tokenized assets while reducing operational complexity and shortening settlement cycles.

Their main advantage lies less in cost reduction than in distribution control, flow management, and recurring revenue generation. Issuers that position themselves early and build a credible on-chain strategy are likely to capture a disproportionate share of liquidity and institutional attention.

• Actors to watch: Securitize, xStocks, Unit, Superstate, Maple, Spiko, Ondo

Custodians

Custodians are likely the most critical and underestimated winners of institutional tokenization. As institutions increasingly interact with on-chain assets, demand for secure, compliant, and insured custody solutions becomes unavoidable.

In a tokenized world, custody goes far beyond simple asset safekeeping. Custodians now provide staking, governance, collateral management, reporting, and compliance services. It is unlikely that institutions will build these capabilities in-house, reinforcing the strategic position of established providers.

In 2026, tokenization should continue to accelerate, but the winners will not necessarily be those who tokenize the most assets. Value will concentrate among actors that control key layers of the stack, manage market access, and inspire sufficient trust to operate at scale.

• Actors to watch: Coinbase, Anchorage, BitGo, Copper, Fireblocks, Zodia

Distributors

The central challenge for any RWA issuer is enabling users to enter and exit the market easily. Many projects have attempted to tokenize private credit, real estate, or alternative investments on-chain, and their common issue has often been a persistent lack of liquidity.

If an investor cannot exit a tokenized asset at any time, they do not truly hold a liquid asset. Instead, they depend on the presence of another buyer willing to take over their position. Without sufficient liquidity, tokenization does not solve the core problem of capital access, it merely shifts it elsewhere. Market depth and continuity are therefore essential conditions for sustainable RWA growth.

This is precisely the role of distributors. They correspond to secondary markets and protocols that allow tokenized assets to be traded, sold, used as collateral, borrowed against, yield-generated, or leveraged. They transform static assets into genuinely usable financial building blocks.

Within this category, money markets play a central role. Protocols such as Aave, Morpho, Euler, Spark, and Kamino enable holders of tokenized assets to deploy them in more advanced strategies. By facilitating borrowing, lending, and collateral reuse, these protocols enhance both the individual utility of RWAs and overall market liquidity.

Certain DEXs also play a key role in this dynamic. Platforms such as Uniswap, Jupiter, and Fluid contribute to price discovery and asset circulation, particularly as tokenized assets begin to integrate natively into DeFi.

Finally, one distinct actor deserves specific mention. Pendle does not position itself as a traditional secondary market, but as a yield structuring layer. By enabling the separation and trading of future yield streams, Pendle provides sophisticated tools to optimize, hedge, or amplify exposure to tokenized assets.

As the RWA market matures, distributors increasingly appear as one of the most important control points in the stack. They ultimately determine adoption, liquidity, and the ability of tokenized assets to establish themselves as genuine financial instruments.

• Actors to watch: Aave, Euler, Morpho, Kamino, Jupiter, Uniswap, Spark, Pendle