Unlocking the $16 Trillion RWA Giant: Why Only 1% Is On-Chain?

3 min read

Nov 4, 2025

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The Massive RWA Opportunity: $16 Trillion Waiting in the Wings

The global Real-World Asset (RWA) market is enormous. It tops $16 trillion in 2025. Yet, only about 1% has gone on-chain. That’s just $160 billion tokenized so far. RWAs include real estate, bonds, art, and commodities. Tokenization turns them into digital shares on blockchains. This boosts liquidity and access. For newbies, imagine owning a sliver of a skyscraper via your phone. No brokers needed. As BCG predicts, RWAs could hit $16 trillion by 2030. But today, barriers like regulations slow it. As a result, the full potential remains untapped. Blockchain fixes this. It adds transparency and 24/7 trading.

The On-Chain Gap: Why So Little Has Digitized?

Moreover, the 1% figure highlights hurdles. High costs plague traditional finance. Settlements take days. Fees eat profits. Tokenization changes that. It enables fractional ownership. Minimums drop from millions to dollars. Specifically, private credit and U.S. Treasuries lead on-chain. They hold 89% of the $24 billion tokenized market. Stablecoins add $236 billion more. But real estate lags at 5%. As McKinsey notes, regulations and tech gaps stall growth. Chainlink’s oracles help. They feed real data on-chain. Yet, only 1% digitized shows room to grow. As CoinDesk reports, the market surged 380% in three years. Projections eye $30 trillion by 2034. Thus, the gap is closing. But it needs more bridges.

Stellar’s Spotlight: A Leader in RWA Tokenization

Furthermore, Stellar ($XLM) shines in this space. It hosts $639 million in RWAs. That’s 2.7% of the total on-chain market. Stellar ranks third behind Ethereum ($7.4B) and Solana ($349M). Its edge? Low fees and speed. Transactions settle in 5 seconds for $0.00001. Perfect for RWAs like funds or bonds. For instance, Franklin Templeton’s BENJI fund hit $849M on Stellar. It offers U.S. Treasury yields at 4-5%. WisdomTree tokenized Stellar Lumens ETPs too. As RWA.xyz data shows, Stellar processed $4.2B in RWA volumes quarterly. It leads in tokenized Treasuries at 94.8%. Partnerships with SG-FORGE for EURCV (€41M) add euro flavor. Therefore, Stellar bridges TradFi to crypto. It draws institutions with MiCA compliance.

Bridging the Gap: Stellar’s Tools for RWA Growth

Additionally, Stellar’s Soroban smart contracts enable programmable RWAs. Developers build yield farms or FX swaps. Chainlink integration adds secure data feeds. This prevents exploits. As a result, Stellar’s TVL grew 26.6% monthly in 2025. It now eyes $3B by year-end. For users, fractional bonds trade 24/7. No market hours limit. In Latin America, Mercado Bitcoin tokenized $200M RWAs on Stellar. Remittances flow faster. Fees drop 80%. As Messari reports, Stellar’s 1,000 TPS handles scale. It beats Ethereum’s congestion. Hence, even retail investors join. Platforms like Lumexo offer low-fee $XLM trades.

The Road Ahead: From 1% to Mainstream

In short, the $16T RWA market is ripe. Only 1% on-chain leaves $15.84T untapped. Stellar leads the charge. Its efficiency and compliance attract billions. As Q4 2025 pilots expand, watch adoption soar. For holders, $XLM hits $0.50 potential. Newcomers gain easy access. The future? RWAs for all.

Sources

Data articol: November 4, 2025