- Tokenized RWAs reached $24.9B, rising nearly fourfold year over year as institutions placed more assets onchain.
- U.S. Treasuries still lead RWA growth but their market share fell as tokenized stocks and gold expanded rapidly.
- Only about 11.8% of RWA-backed stablecoins are used in DeFi, with most supply remaining idle due to compliance limits.
Tokenized real-world assets reached about $24.9 billion in value on Feb. 19, according to Nexus data. The report shows the sector expanded nearly fourfold within one year as institutions placed assets onchain. Growth mainly came from U.S. Treasuries and commodities, however their dominance declined as tokenized stocks and gold gained ground.
Tokenized Treasuries Expand but Market Becomes More Diverse
According to Nexus Data, tokenized assets excluding stablecoins grew about 289% year over year. The market expanded by roughly $18.5 billion during that period. U.S. Treasuries and commodities generated around 58% of the overall growth. However, Treasury dominance dropped from 59% to about 43%.
Despite the decline in share, tokenized Treasury products still expanded rapidly. Their combined value climbed nearly threefold to about $11 billion. BlackRock’s BUIDL product now ranks as the largest tokenized Treasury fund. Its value reached roughly $2.2 billion after rising about 239%.
Meanwhile, Ondo Finance reported total exposure near $2 billion in tokenized Treasury products. At the same time, issuer concentration declined. Nexus data shows the top three providers previously controlled 61% of the market. Their combined share has now fallen to roughly 48%.
Tokenized Stocks and Gold Record Rapid Expansion
At the same time, tokenized equities have emerged as the fastest-growing category. Their value rose from nearly zero to about $786 million since mid-2025. Several major securities now appear in tokenized form onchain. These include NVDA, TSLA, SPY, and QQQ.
Notably, demand kept rising even while Bitcoin traded below $70,000 during parts of the period. According to the data, equity token growth continued despite weaker crypto sentiment. Tokenized gold also expanded.
Circulating supply increased from about 687,000 to nearly 1.3 million troy ounces. During the same timeframe, gold’s spot price climbed roughly 80%. As a result, investors continued minting gold-backed tokens onchain.
Stablecoin Utilization Falls as Macro Pressure Persists
Despite strong RWA growth, Nexus data shows limited deployment within decentralized finance. RWA-backed stablecoins currently hold about $8.5 billion in supply. However, only around $1 billion, or 11.8%, currently operates inside DeFi protocols. The remaining 88% largely remains idle.
According to the report, compliance restrictions such as KYC and whitelisting limit broader usage. Meanwhile, permissionless assets like reUSD show utilization above 96%. At the same time, analyst Darkfost reported continuing macroeconomic pressure on digital assets.
According to Darkfost, inflation remains persistent while unemployment has started rising again. The latest Nonfarm Payrolls report also showed job cuts exceeding expectations. As a result, uncertainty surrounding Federal Reserve policy has increased.
Darkfost also tracked declining stablecoin flows to exchanges this year. Binance recorded monthly netflows near negative $2 billion, while Bitfinex showed roughly negative $336 million. However, those outflows slowed compared with earlier levels. On Feb. 15, Binance showed negative $6.7 billion, while Bitfinex recorded about negative $443 million.
