RWA Tokens Surge 81% in a Week

Tokenized “real-world” assets (RWA) are gaining traction. The sector’s total market capitalization increased by 81% over seven days, reaching $8 billion. 

Six of the 15 largest coins in the segment showed triple-digit growth over the week. Some maintained their momentum even during the broader market correction.

The leading token was Ondo (ONDO), which increased in price by 122%. At the time of writing, the asset is trading at $0.91 with a market capitalization of $1.3 billion. 

ONDO is the native coin of Ondo Finance, a project specializing in decentralized investment products. In February, the platform released tokenized versions of U.S. bonds.

Following ONDO is Polymesh (POLYX), which rose by 205% to $0.6, with its market capitalization reaching $619 million. 

POLYX is a utility token of the Polymesh Layer 1 blockchain, aimed at developing the security token sector. The network uses the Nominated Proof-of-Stake (NPoS) consensus algorithm developed by Polkadot. 

In third place is MANTRA (OM) with a market capitalization of $577 million. It is one of the few assets with negative dynamics in the sector. Over the week, the coin fell by 15%, but it recovered 5.5% in the past 24 hours, trading at $0.72. 

OM is a utility coin of a vertically integrated blockchain ecosystem launched in 2020. The platform creates infrastructure to merge DeFi and TradFi through the tokenization of “real-world” assets. 

The RWA sector is the second most dynamic among other crypto sectors, surpassed only by “cat” meme tokens. 

RWA Applications

Alongside the segment’s momentum, several projects and organizations have announced initiatives to implement tokenized “real-world” assets. 

On March 19, the oracle network Chainlink and the Avalanche blockchain published the results of a pilot project conducted by the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) for transferring tokenized assets between public networks using Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP).

During the testing, ANZ clients purchased New Zealand dollar-pegged stablecoins on Avalanche and then exchanged them on the Ethereum network for NFTs representing tokenized natural resources of Australia. The bank facilitated the conversion of fiat into digital currencies. 

“The ANZ project illustrates how innovative traditional financial service providers are preparing for a new version of capital markets enhanced by blockchain. In these tests, the bank is pioneering the transfer of on-chain value, while the infrastructure created by Chainlink and Avalanche ensures compatibility and customizability,” said Ava Labs President John Wu.

Other institutions implementing CCIP include BNY Mellon, Citi, BNP Paribas, Euroclear, Lloyds Banking Group, and SIX Digital Exchange.

According to a dashboard on Dune, since the launch of the cross-chain protocol, Chainlink has earned $484,000, 43% of which was generated in March.

On March 25, the RWA exchange DigitFT, licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, launched the first tokenized depository receipts (DR), granting ownership rights to U.S. Treasury bills.

The company stated that the assets legally represent the direct beneficial interest of token holders while facilitating network settlements. 

“DigiFT USA tokens (DRUST) are the first offering under the DR structure. Each DRUST is directly backed by highly liquid and short-term U.S. Treasury bills with an AA+ rating, specifically designed for stablecoin issuers and Web3 product developers/managers,” explained representatives of the exchange. 

Back in January, the “real-world” asset tokenization platform Dinari closed a $10 million seed funding round. The project team has already launched two dozen RWA coins, dShare, on Arbitrum, representing stocks, exchange-traded products, real estate, and other assets.