Top Real World Assets (RWA) Crypto Projects

BlackRock recently launched its first tokenized asset fund, BUIDL, on the Ethereum network, venturing into the RWA (Real-World Assets) domain. With this move, RWAs could see a potential growth of 50-100 times this year. RWA represents tokenized versions of traditional financial assets on the blockchain, both fungible and non-fungible. These can represent tangible assets like real estate or intangible ones like government bonds and carbon credits.

RWA has become one of the most popular narratives during this bull market, probably only second behind Solana memecoins. Predictions suggest that by 2030, the market size of RWAs could reach $10 trillion. RWA encompasses nearly all assets that play a crucial role in the real world, including commodities, real estate, government bonds, and insurance.

BlackRock's recent launch of the tokenized asset fund BUIDL on the Ethereum network is significant. Financial institutions have invested heavily in tokenization which has benefitted the entire crypto market. With the joint efforts of BlackRock and Coinbase, the RWA domain might undergo a complete transformation.

Undoubtedly, the RWA domain holds immense potential, which could be fully realized in 2024-2025. Phemex has identified 15 "most promising" projects with the potential to become market leaders by the end of this year, indicating a bright future for RWA crypto. Additionally, Phemex has launched a social trading platform called PhemexPulse. What's PhemexPulse all about? Phemex Pulse is our latest addition integrated into the Phemex web3 ecosystem, designed to bring crypto enthusiasts closer together. It's a space where traders can connect, share insights, and even monetize their online presence.

What Are Real World Assets (RWA) Crypto Tokens?

Blockchain-based digital tokens representing real-world assets (RWAs), such as money, commodities, stocks, bonds, credit, artwork, and intellectual property, are known as tokenized RWAs. This tokenization process signifies a pivotal change in the way these assets are accessed, traded, and controlled, opening up a plethora of new possibilities for blockchain-enabled financial services and a broad range of non-financial applications supported by cryptography and decentralized consensus mechanisms.

Real-World Assets in DeFi?

The expansion of decentralized finance (DeFi) applications heralds new ways to leverage real-world assets (RWAs). By integrating real assets, DeFi is poised to evolve into a comprehensive financial ecosystem that seamlessly connects the traditional financial sector with the cryptocurrency world, enabling DeFi to parallel the investment offerings of conventional financial entities.

Lending and Borrowing: Certain DeFi platforms facilitate the use of tokenized assets such as real estate, art, commodities, and more as collateral for loans, often based on specific loan-to-value ratios. In this arrangement, borrowers obtain stablecoins or other forms of tokens, whereas lenders receive interest payments.
Index Funds: DeFi platforms can facilitate access to a range of RWA tokens aggregated into a single investment pool, allowing for passive investment strategies. This approach helps spread investment risk across various tokens and asset categories.
Asset Management: Through autonomous fund protocols, capital can be allocated towards trading RWA tokens with the aim of generating returns, marking a proactive approach to asset management within the DeFi space.
Less Risky Investments: Incorporating RWAs into DeFi introduces access to diversified asset classes beyond just cryptocurrency-related assets. Assets connected to real estate, commodities, art, or other tangible goods may offer reduced volatility compared to crypto-native assets, presenting less risky investment options within the DeFi ecosystem.

Top Real World Assets (RWA) Crypto Tokens

Goldfinch

Goldfinch is a decentralized lending protocol initially targeted at emerging markets. It offers a return on investment for capital providers while providing cryptocurrency loans to creditworthy applicants without requiring cryptocurrency as collateral.

Key Metrics:

Token: GFI
Market Cap: $144.1 million
Fully Diluted Valuation (FDV): $236.3 million
Unlocked: 60.9% of total supply

Clearpool

Clearpool is a decentralized capital market ecosystem where institutional borrowers aim to obtain unsecured loans directly from the DeFi ecosystem. The protocol is built on Ethereum and Polygon blockchains.

Key Metrics:

Token: CPOOL
Market Cap: $87.5 million
FDV: $195.4 million
Unlocked: 44.7% of total supply

Ondo Finance

Ondo Finance's mission is to make institutional-level financial products and services accessible to everyone. Ondo is building the next generation of financial infrastructure to enhance market efficiency, transparency, and accessibility.

Key Metrics:

Token: ONDO
Market Cap: $1.18 billion
FDV: $8.2 billion
Unlocked: 14.3% of total supply

Nexera Foundation

Nexera Foundation is empowering the future of finance with cutting-edge open-source innovations, using blockchain technology to facilitate on-chain and off-chain operations, simplifying the management of digital, financial, and RWA.

Key Metrics:

Token: NXRA
Market Cap: $189 million
FDV: $203 million
Unlocked: 93.1% of total supply

Polytrade

Polytrade is a blockchain-based decentralized trade finance protocol designed to connect buyers, sellers, insurers, and investors for a seamless trading experience.

Key Metrics:

Token: TRADE
Market Cap: $52.7 million
FDV: $167.5 million
Unlocked: 32.5% of total supply

Creditcoin

Creditcoin is a multi-chain credit protocol that serves as a foundational L1 blockchain designed to match and record credit transactions.

Key Metrics:

Token: CTC
Market Cap: $271 million
FDV: $507 million
Unlocked: 53.4% of total supply

Dusk Network

Dusk Network is a privacy-focused blockchain designed for financial platforms, offering regulated and decentralized financial services like funding and trade automation through smart contracts.

Key Metrics:

Token: DUSK
Market Cap: $197 million
FDV: $215 million
Unlocked: 91.6% of total supply

IX Swap

IX Swap is a DeFi platform that trades security tokens and RWA through licensed custodians and brokers. The IX ecosystem includes trading of security tokens, a crowdfunding launch platform, tokenization as a service, and fractionalized NFT platforms.

Key Metrics:

Token: IXS
Market Cap: $71.5 million
FDV: $78.7 million
Unlocked: 90.8% of total supply

Grand Base

Grand Base is a decentralized spot synthetic RWAs market, aiming to provide exposure to RWAs without holding the actual underlying assets.

Key Metrics:

Token: GB
Market Cap: $37.6 million
FDV: $180 million
Unlocked: 20.8% of total supply

Swarm Markets

Swarm Markets enable institutional investors like banks and hedge funds, as well as retail investors, to trade and hold tokens based on various real-world assets such as commodities, traditional market securities, and cryptocurrencies.

Key Metrics:

Token: SMT
Market Cap: $41.7 million
FDV: $166 million
Unlocked: 25.1% of total supply

Chintai Nexus

Chintai Nexus provides comprehensive solutions for responsible digital assets and utility tokens, seamlessly connecting decentralized and traditional finance through compatible blockchain technology.

Key Metrics:

Token: CHEX
Market Cap: $198.7 million
FDV: $198.7 million
Unlocked: 100% of total supply

Realio

Realio is a digital issuance, investment, and peer-to-peer trading platform that leverages a proprietary distributed network to issue and connect centralized ecosystems, representing a complete Web3 ecosystem for RWAs.

Key Metrics:

Token: RIO
Market Cap: $98.81 million
FDV: $92.6 million
Unlocked: 11.8% of total supply

Boson Protocol

Boson Protocol is the decentralized commerce layer of Web3, supporting the tokenization, transfer, and trade of physical items as redeemable NFTs.

Key Metrics:

Token: BOSON
Market Cap: $61.1 million
FDV: $107 million
Unlocked: 60.3% of total supply

Xend Finance

Xend Finance, supported by Binance Labs and Google Launchpad, is at the forefront of financial innovation, bridging the gap between traditional finance (TradFi) and DeFi.

Key Metrics:

Token: RWA
Market Cap: $15 million
FDV: $26.7 million
Unlocked: 55.4% of total supply

Opulous

Opulous democratizes music financing while strengthening the connection between artists and fans, creating a more equitable and supportive music economy.

Key Metrics:

Token: OPUL
Market Cap: $96 million
FDV: $118 million
Unlocked: 81.3% of total supply

Benefits of Real-World Assets (RWA)

The tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs) brings forth several significant advantages, such as:

Enhanced Liquidity: Tokenized RWAs facilitate improved market liquidity for assets that are traditionally hard to liquidate by offering globally accessible liquidity conditions. This is made possible through the blockchain ecosystem, which supports cross-chain activities, including those enabled by Chainlink's Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP), thereby creating a unified platform for asset exchange.
Increased Transparency: The onchain representation of tokenized assets ensures a high level of transparency and auditable asset management. This increased visibility reduces systemic risks by allowing for a more precise assessment of leverage and risk across the entire financial system.
Greater Accessibility: By leveraging blockchain technology, tokenized RWAs make certain types of assets more accessible to a wider audience. This is achieved through simplified access via blockchain applications and the possibility of fractional ownership, enabling a broader range of investors to engage with assets that would otherwise be out of reach.
Reduced Costs: Eliminating intermediaries from transactions can significantly lower traditional fees associated with transactions and paperwork. Furthermore, managing tokens through blockchain consensus mechanisms can decrease maintenance and record-keeping costs compared to those associated with physical assets and traditional systems.
Streamlined Compliance: The use of smart contracts enables the automation of regulatory compliance, including Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks. Additionally, digital tokens can simplify adherence to tax reporting requirements through the use of integrated tools and the transparency of public ledgers, making compliance more straightforward and less burdensome.

Despite skepticism that RWA (Real-World Assets) might just be old stories cutting into new cycles, institutions have continually entered the space to contribute to its growth since the beginning of the year. The bullish trend of RWA concept tokens indeed brings some highlights to the otherwise sluggish crypto market.