Real World Assets (RWA) or tokenized real-world assets represent one of the growing trends of interest within the crypto and blockchain space, due to the use of blockchains as a meeting point between traditional finance and decentralized finance (DeFi).
Asset tokenization with blockchain brings a wide range of benefits, opportunities and new dynamics to global markets, and real-world assets represented on-chain could reshape the way financial markets are managed, invested in and traded.
Let’s explore four things you should know about Real World Assets and how they connect to the blockchain world.
- What are Real World Assets?
When we talk about Real World Assets, we refer to real-world assets such as money, stocks, bonds, real estate, funds or gold, which can be converted or represented in digital tokens on a blockchain.
This process of tokenizing real-world assets makes it easier for these assets to be fractionated and traded more efficiently, providing new investment opportunities and access to greater liquidity, in a more secure and transparent environment thanks to smart contracts.
In short, they are traditional assets that are off-chain, which are tokenized to enable them on-chain in a digitalized environment.
- How do RWAs relate to crypto, blockchain and DeFi?
Real World Assets have a clear link with the crypto and blockchain world, due to the use of blockchains and smart contracts to support the representation of real-world assets in the form of digital tokens, whether fungible or non-fungible (NFT).
The use of blockchain technology offers security, transparency and traceability for tokenized transactions and assets, which in turn fosters trust among investors and market participants.
- Benefits of Tokenizing Real World Assets
Unlike cryptocurrencies, which are assets native to a blockchain and digital world, blockchain enables an on-chain, tokenized version of real-world assets, which exist tangibly or intangible in the physical world.
Similarly, Real World Assets have promising potential within the world of decentralized finance, enabling new interactions between the gigantic asset market and the DeFi ecosystem, allowing investors and participants to access a wide range of financial products and services, such as loans, liquidity pools, staking and more, without traditional intermediaries and at lower costs.
Tokenized real-world assets can be seen as a bridge to connect traditional finance assets with DeFi, leveraging decentralized infrastructure and its benefits such as transparency, efficiency, liquidity, innovation or fractionalization capability, to improve access and performance of traditional assets.
With access to traditional assets, decentralized finance can not only increase in terms of utility and interactions, but also greatly expand the size of its market, which is generally measured by Total Value Locked (TVL), giving it greater capacity for growth and adoption by users.
The strength of institutional investors and companies can undoubtedly boost this scaling process for DeFi with the help of tokenized real-world assets.
Ultimately, DeFi protocols can gain greater notoriety and relevance with the help of Real World Assets, whether through the integration of tokenized versions of stocks, bonds, gold or real estate, becoming a more accessible and inclusive product.
- Types of Real World Assets That Can Be Tokenized
Some of the top examples of tokenized Real World Assets include:
- US dollars
- Short-term US Treasury bills
- Short-Term U.S. Government Bond Fund
- US Treasury Bills
- Private funds
- Investment funds
- Gold
- Home Mortgages
- Estate
- Commercial Real Estate Debt
- Exchange-traded fund (ETF)
- Bank deposits
- Carbon credits
- Works of art
- Patents
- Tokenized loans and credits
- Agricultural products
*This is a non-exhaustive, referential and informative list
Platforms Offering Real World Asset Tokenization
There are different platforms that offer services and exposure to Real World Assets, some examples are:
- Ondo Finance
- RealT
- Goldfinch
- Centrifuge
- Maple Finance
- Clearpool
- Polymesh
- MakerDAO
- TrueFi
You can see a list of projects and tokens linked to Real World Assets on CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap






















