Standard Chartered expects the market for tokenized real-world belongings (RWAs), excluding stablecoins, to develop from roughly $35 billion in the present day to $2 trillion by 2028, based on a report revealed this week.
The financial institution’s projection is predicated on accelerating adoption throughout monetary establishments and rising infrastructure maturity inside blockchain ecosystems. The report, led by Geoffrey Kendrick, Head of Digital Belongings Analysis at Standard Chartered, anticipates that tokenized cash market funds and listed equities will every account for roughly $750 billion of the whole, whereas the remaining $500 billion shall be made up of much less liquid belongings resembling personal fairness, company bonds, actual property, and commodities.
Ethereum is recognized because the main blockchain for tokenization use instances, attributable to its constant uptime and reliability. Kendrick famous that the protocol’s decade-long working historical past with out main disruption provides it a foundational edge, whereas elements like community velocity and charges are seen as secondary issues.
The report argues that the 2025 surge in stablecoin adoption laid the groundwork for expanded decentralized finance (DeFi) and tokenization. Stablecoins have elevated on-chain liquidity and enabled lending, borrowing, and settlement mechanisms that mimic conventional monetary methods—positioning tokenized markets to problem legacy finance extra instantly within the coming years.
The financial institution additionally notes that regulatory readability within the U.S. shall be important for the market’s full growth. Whereas uncertainty stays, Standard Chartered doesn’t anticipate it to derail momentum forward of the 2026 U.S. midterm elections.
