The tokenized real-world asset (RWA) market has crossed $34 billion, with on-chain investors clearly favoring single stocks over funds. A third-quarter report from Dune Analytics tracking more than 2,600 products from 250 issuers across 21 blockchains revealed that individual stock holdings account for 81% of total tokenized spot equity, leaving just 19% for mutual funds and ETFs. The held value of individual stocks has jumped ninefold over the past year.
Four major RWA asset classes grew 140% to reach $33.9 billion by the end of August. Despite making up only a small fraction of total RWA supply, equities dominated trading activity. The category generated 93% of spot volume in August at $12.6 billion. Equity perpetual contract transactions contributed an additional $72.4 billion in volume during the same period.
Asia’s Memory Chip Frenzy
The equity perpetual market was heavily driven by Asian stocks, which accounted for 24% of total open interest. Shares of memory chip manufacturers generated the strongest demand, commanding 47% of equity perpetual volume in August. Intense interest in the sector drove one SK Hynix stock contract to an annualized funding rate of 308% in July - traders were willing to pay high premiums to maintain their long positions.
Tokenized cash-equivalent products boast a larger valuation base at $17.8 billion, but velocity remains low. Only 0.006% of cash-equivalent supply was traded on secondary markets throughout August. These assets are also rarely pledged as loan collateral. Just 0.4% of cash equivalents were deposited into credit protocols as collateral, well below tokenized credit, where collateralization rates range between 19% and 21%.
Are Traditional Exchanges Under Threat?
Binance Research data indicates equities surged 390.4% year-over-year to $4.43 billion, or 13% of all tracked RWA assets. This represents 0.0029% of the $151.9 trillion total market capitalization of public stocks. The capital activation rate for equities rose to 7.54% as of September 15 from 1.95% at the start of the year, driven by liquidity pools that hold 65.4% of active equity value.
Regulators are gradually opening doors to these new mechanisms. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a five-year conditional exemptive relief on September 17, allowing tokenized securities platforms to trade national market system (NMS) stocks via automated market makers (AMMs) and licensed liquidity pools. Traditional exchanges have reacted in turn: NYSE Group and Blockchain.com signed an agreement on September 23 to explore 24-hour trading access to U.S. stocks and ETFs, pending regulatory approval.
Reported by crypto.news.
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only, not financial advice. Cryptocurrency assets are highly volatile and carry significant risk. Always do your own research (DYOR) and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
