DeFi

Paul Atkins

Avalanche

Aave

<p>Onchain real-world assets have reached $34.18 billion as of September 15, 2026, after growing 85.2% since the start of the year, while only around 12% of tracked tokenized capital is being used in onchain financial applications.</p>
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   <li>Onchain RWA assets reached $34.18 billion by September 15, rising 85.2% year to date overall.</li>
   <li>Bonds and money market funds led with $18.29 billion, contributing most new onchain asset value.</li>
   <li>Tokenized equities grew 390.4% year to date, lifting their tracked RWA market share to 13.0%.</li>
   <li>Only around 12% of tracked tokenized asset value is deployed across onchain financial applications today.</li>
   <li>SEC relief now permits limited tokenized NMS stock trading through qualifying permissioned onchain venues temporarily.</li>
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<p>Binance Research published the figures on September 18 in its<a href="https://www.binance.com/en/research/analysis/the-rwa-activation-era?utm_source=chatgpt.com" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"></a>“The RWA Activation Era” <a href="https://www.binance.com/en/research/analysis/the-rwa-activation-era?utm_source=chatgpt.com" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">report</a>, using DefiLlama data and its own methodology to compare asset issuance with onchain use. Bonds and money market funds remained the largest category at $18.29 billion, while tokenized equities reached $4.43 billion after rising 390.4% year to date.</p>
<p>The report separates tokenization into two measures. Its Programmable Asset Ratio, or PAR, compares tokenized value with the size of the underlying market. Capital Activation Rate, or CAR, measures how much eligible tokenized value is deployed in liquidity pools, lending markets, collateral systems and other verified onchain applications.</p>
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  <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
   <p>America can't be the leader in finance without the best products. It's time to bring stock perps onshore. <a href="https://t.co/LjuhiUeENe" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">https://t.co/LjuhiUeENe</a></p>— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) <a href="https://x.com/brian_armstrong/status/2101046138124304556?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">September 18, 2026</a>
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<p>You might also like: <a href="https://crypto.news/rwa-futures-volume-jumps-142-fold-cryptos-19b-wipeout/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> RWA futures volume jumps 142-fold after crypto’s $19B wipeout </a></p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="strong-rwa-growth-is-being-led-by-bonds-and-tokenized-stocks-strong"><strong>RWA growth is being led by bonds and tokenized stocks</strong></h2>
<p>Bond and money market funds generated 54.7% of this year’s increase in tracked RWA assets, Binance Research said. Equities contributed another 22.4%, meaning the two categories produced more than three-quarters of the added market value through September 15.</p>
<p>Other categories expanded at slower rates. Gold and commodities rose 46.6% year to date, private credit increased 43.6%, and real estate gained 17.9%, according to the report.</p>
<p>Tokenized equities posted the fastest percentage growth among the main categories tracked by Binance Research. Their share of RWA assets rose from 4.9% to 13.0%, even though the $4.43 billion onchain balance represented only 0.0029% of the $151.9 trillion listed-equity reference market used in the report.</p>
<p>Across all covered markets, Binance Research estimated that only around 0.01% of the underlying asset base has been tokenized. Bond and money market funds had an indicative PAR of 0.0171%, leaving their onchain share small compared with the traditional markets they represent.</p>
<p>The latest figures extend an expansion documented earlier in the year. In June, <a href="https://crypto.news/binance-spotlights-tokenized-stocks-as-rwa-market-surges-nearly-600/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Binance Research had recorded rapid growth in tokenized stocks</a> while bond and money market funds added billions of dollars in onchain value.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="strong-most-tokenized-capital-remains-outside-defi-applications-strong"><strong>Most tokenized capital remains outside DeFi applications</strong></h2>
<p>The report found an overall CAR of roughly 12%, meaning close to $12 of every $100 in qualifying tokenized asset value was deployed in tracked financial applications. Binance Research used the measure to separate issued assets from assets being used as liquidity, collateral or lending capital.</p>
<p>A separate DeFiLlama-based review published earlier in September produced a similar result.<a href="https://crypto.news/why-89-percent-tokenized-rwas-remain-idle/?utm_source=chatgpt.com" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"></a>As crypto.news <a href="https://crypto.news/why-89-percent-tokenized-rwas-remain-idle/?utm_source=chatgpt.com" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">reported</a>, around $3.79 billion of a $34.6 billion tokenized RWA market was deployed in protocols at the time, leaving roughly 89% outside the applications covered by the dataset.</p>
<p>Utilization varies sharply by asset type. Binance Research put private credit CAR at 49.67%, the highest among its tracked categories. Equity CAR rose from 1.95% at the start of the year to 7.54% by September 15.</p>
<p>Within tokenized-equity DeFi activity, liquidity pools accounted for 65.4% of deployed value and lending represented 28.1%. Together, the two uses made up 93.5% of equity DeFi total value locked measured by the report.</p>
<p>Product-level data can look very different from the market average. The crypto.news review of DefiLlama data found BlackRock’s BUIDL at 0.64% utilization, Franklin Templeton’s BENJI at 0%, and Circle’s USYC at 0.52%. Centrifuge’s JAAA and Re Protocol’s reUSD both had utilization above 97% in the same dataset.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="strong-u-s-rules-now-give-tokenized-equities-a-limited-onchain-route-strong"><strong>U.S. rules now give tokenized equities a limited onchain route</strong></h2>
<p>One day before Binance Research published its report, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved a temporary framework for limited onchain trading of tokenized National Market System stocks.</p>
<p>The SEC’s September 17 <a href="https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2026-90-sec-issues-innovation-exemption-facilitate-trading-tokenized-nms-stock-request-comment?utm_source=chatgpt.com" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Innovation Exemption</a> gives qualifying Tokenized Securities Venues conditional relief from the Exchange Act definition of an exchange. Related relief covers certain liquidity providers supplying proprietary capital through permissioned automated market makers and liquidity pools.</p>
<p>The five-year exemption comes with limits. Tokenized NMS stocks must provide the same rights and privileges as corresponding traditional shares, including voting and dividend rights where applicable. Issuers must be able to object when an unaffiliated third party wants to make a tokenized version of their stock available on a qualifying venue.</p>
<p>Trading venues must use auditable public smart contracts on public permissionless distributed ledgers, follow trading halts in the underlying security, maintain records and publish required transaction information. Anti-fraud and anti-manipulation provisions continue to apply.</p>
<p>The regulator is seeking public comment while it considers longer-term rules. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said the exemption would permit trading in a permissioned environment “while the Commission considers the need for additional action” on onchain stock trading.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="strong-market-infrastructure-is-moving-tokenized-assets-toward-use-strong"><strong>Market infrastructure is moving tokenized assets toward use</strong></h2>
<p>Institutional projects are putting tokenized securities into trading, collateral and settlement workflows. On September 16, DTCC said Ondo Finance subsidiary Oasis Pro Markets had joined Fund/SERV, becoming the platform’s first tokenization member. DTCC said Fund/SERV processes more than 85% of U.S. mutual fund transaction activity.</p>
<p>DTCC had already completed production transactions using DTC-tokenized assets on July 15. Participating firms used tokenized securities in Treasury repo, equity delivery-versus-payment, securities lending, collateral pledge and central-counterparty margin workflows, according to the company.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.dtcc.com/press-releases/2026/dtcc-turns-tokenization-into-reality?utm_source=chatgpt.com" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">DTC tokenization service</a> remains scheduled for an October 2026 launch. DTCC said tokenized versions of DTC-custodied securities are designed to retain the same ownership rights, entitlements and investor protections as their traditional forms.</p>
<p>DeFi lenders have built separate channels for RWA collateral. Aave launched Horizon in August 2025 for qualified borrowers seeking stablecoin liquidity against tokenized assets. By February 2026, Aave Labs said deposits had exceeded $440 million.&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="https://crypto.news/aave-plans-avalanche-rwa-hub-with-tethers-usat/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Aave plans a dedicated RWA credit hub on Avalanche</a> where eligible institutions could borrow USA₮ against approved tokenized financial assets. Aave’s governance materials had previously specified that a dedicated RWA hub would follow the initial Avalanche V4 deployment through a separate governance process.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="strong-binance-research-sees-issuance-and-utilization-moving-separately-strong"><strong>Binance Research sees issuance and utilization moving separately</strong></h2>
<p>For tokenized equities, Binance Research used three 2030 scenarios from an earlier report: approximately $61 billion, $349 billion and $987 billion in tokenized equity value. The firm presented the figures as scenario ranges, not company-confirmed future market values.</p>
<p>Under its $349 billion base scenario, Binance Research estimated a PAR of 0.23%. Its sensitivity analysis showed that moving equity CAR from 10% to 20% at that asset level would increase deployed capital from $34.94 billion to $69.87 billion without requiring more tokenized supply.</p>
<p>The report calls the next stage an “RWA Activation Era,” referring to tokenized assets becoming usable in exchanges, lending and collateral markets. Current figures still show a large difference between asset value represented onchain and capital deployed in those applications.</p>
<p>Binance Research cited earlier platform data showing 58.5% of early bStocks users used perpetuals or direct equities as well. The report said future adoption will depend on whether distribution channels and financial applications convert access to tokenized assets into recurring liquidity and financing activity.</p>
<p>Read more: <a href="https://crypto.news/polymarket-hit-by-alleged-10m-stolen-card-fraud/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> Polymarket hit by alleged $10M stolen-card fraud </a></p>

RWA market reaches $34.18B as equities surge 390.4%

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