🔊 RWAs Up 260% in 2025

What an amazing week for tokenization. Ray Buckton, Head of Research at RWA World, here with the latest. 🤓

Galaxy Digital says tokenization is going mainstream, and with the RWA market up 260%+ in 2025, we believe it. 😤

🎯🔥 Rapid Fire Takeaways:

⭕ Circle IPO Gives 4X Returns Already

👀 Apple, Google, Airbnb, and X are reportedly eyeing stablecoin payments

📊 Fortune 500 companies globally double down on blockchain: Stablecoin volumes now rival Visa

🏹 Robinhood Acquires Bitstamp in a $200 Million Deal

⏱️ Dubai clocks nearly $400M in tokenized real estate sales

📜 Tokenized funds are scaling fast, hitting $5.7B — Moody’s

🏜️ RLUSD surpasses $300M supply as Ripple secures UAE backing

🚀Stablecoins Ignite Record-Breaking May, Supply Jumps To $244B – Data

While Ethereum currently dominates the RWA landscape, could its throne be under threat? 👑

We discuss that and more on Tuesday and Thursday at 2 pm EDT, live on Wolf Crypto – if you’re building in RWA, we have a spot on the panel for you! 🐺

🏛️ Government and Legislation

Big moves in the US as the GENIUS Act moves towards the Senate vote, and Bessent sees it mustering more demand for Treasuries. Not everyone is pleased– some say we need the CLARITY Act to avoid a crypto exodus, and Robinhood’s CEO wants accredited investor rules reworked entirely. 🦅

In Asia, the BoJ says no CBDC, but yes to pilot digital yen. South Korea will boost crypto ETFs after the election, with Kaia pledging a won-pegged stablecoin, and China is using Hong Kong to sell seized crypto. Hong Kong set August 1st as the start date for the new stablecoin licensing regime, to much mainland fanfare, while allowing for crypto derivatives trading. Even Jack Ma wants a license. 🌏

The UK’s FCA published a consultation paper on stablecoin issuance and crypto custody, and Kadena awarded a $400k grant to Curveblock for the BoE’s Digital Securities Sandbox. Further afield, Ukraine has a crypto reserve bill in its parliament. 💷

🤝💻 Collaborations and Tech

Big buyouts with Robinhood acquiring Bitstamp for $200 million and Strip acquiring Privy. We also saw IOST raise $21 million, a £16.3m raise for Noah, and a $7 million raise each for LIMITED and OpenTrade. Thiel’s Founders Fund also put $8 million in Avantis, while Tether invested in OrionX in LatAm and Shiga Digital in Africa. ✍️

Partnerships abound, as Mercurity Fintech and SBI want to accelerate RWA adoption, and Vietnam and Venom team up for blockchain fintech. More on the partnership front: 

• Dimitra 🤝 MANTRA (agriculture/carbon credits)

• Wirex Pay 🤝 Stellar (stablecoin solutions)

• Libertum 🤝 Hashlock (smart contract auditing)

• Nisus Finance 🤝 Toyow ($500M real estate tokenization)

• Keeta 🤝 SOLO (blockchain credit bureau)

• Arkham 🤝 Plasma (stablecoin transparency)

• Deutsche Bank 🤝 Ant International (cross-border SME payments)

• MoneyGram 🤝 Stellar (financial inclusion - 3 year milestone)

• Antpool, Fireblocks 🤝 Botanix (validator federation)

• ENI Partners 🤝 Credors (on-chain lending)

• Clearstream 🤝 Azimut (DLT private funds)

• Subunit Pro 🤝 Zentari Capital (Ethereum fund)

Figure Markets opened a $20 million HELOC financing facility and Kraken launched a prime brokerage. RWA expanded with Plume’s $150 million mainnet launch and Blockticity launching an Avalanche L1 to authenticate $1.2 billion in global trade. 

Valerian launched VLRM markets and demoed its new platform, as Trust Wallet expanded its RWA integration. Slabu revealed a toolkit for one-click institutional onboarding as Stabull launched its liquidity mining program and cross-chain swaps, and SQD Network kicked off OceanStream. 🏄

🚀 Stablecoins Rising

Circle’s IPO is reportedly a significant opportunity, and Bank of America appears to be equally interested in stablecoins. While Russia aims to allow corporations to buy foreign stablecoins and Brazil is relaxing its self-hosted wallet requirements, the EBA opinion could hinder EU stablecoins from being used for mainstream payments. DB remains undeterred and continues to explore stablecoins and tokenized deposits. 🔍

Uber’s CEO says Bitcoin is a “proven commodity” and stablecoins are a “super interesting” for the tech giant, signaling big moves. Visa and Chainlink completed a cross-border stablecoin swap, and PayPal wants a piece of the action. These moves could shake up the Treasury market, as Ethereum passed $2 billion in stablecoin inflows. 🌊

The first USDT stablechain has been revealed as AEON integrated with Tron for in-store USDT payments, and Justin Sun announced the first USD1 minting on the network. WLF additionally airdropped some USD1 to verified WLFI holders, further driving interest as Bolivia turns to USDT as a payment option. 💳

Falcon Finance secured independent audits while surpassing $500 million in USDf supply, and Plasma’s XPL attracted $500 million in investment. And while BVNK partnered with LianLian for stablecoin payments, Arbitrum welcomed FDUSD to the chain, Bitfinex and USDT0 launched free transfers for users, Circle launched on World, and GIBO is testing USDG on WeChat. 📲

🌌 RWA Ecosystems and Sectors

Solana secured a Dubai VARA partnership as Maple Finance expands to the chain. Moody’s is bridging credit ratings, while Bitget integrated Solana Pay and Collateralize launched an RWA launchpad. 🟣

Ripple deployed $200 million to tackle financial inequality and offered a $200K grant to Japanese DeFi and RWA startups. RLUSD soared past $300 million in supply as the XRPL upgrade enables escrow for the currency. The CEO is calling for stablecoin law by August and the CTO says XRP will be the bridge currency. ✖️

Tokenized funds surpassed $5.7 billion as JPMorgan debates using crypto as loan collateral, and Franklin Templeton revealed an intraday yield for BENJI. Commodities are also hot, with StanChart custodying tokenized emeralds and big talk about tokenized gold. 🥇

On the real estate front, Dubai surpassed $400 million, with a near-instant sell-out in the latest offering. Nisus is bringing $500 million more on-chain as Ctrl Alt secured its VARA license to follow suit. Our friends at MetaWealth helped APS buy $3.4 million of tokenized property, as RWA Inc. and Amano Invest launched their platform.

🏠 Bringing it Home

Asset tokenization is just getting started. 

And it’s only growing from here. 

Be sure to join us on Tuesday and Thursday at 2 pm EDT on Wolf Crypto to stay up-to-date with the latest developments and participate in the conversation. 

Until next time!