Author: Aditya Khetarpal, RWA Researcher; Translation: Golden Finance
For years, the narrative around cryptocurrency has portrayed traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi) as opposing forces. One centralized and slow, the other open and unstoppable. But this narrative is evolving. What we are witnessing is not a conflict between systems, but a fusion: traditional finance is migrating on-chain, while decentralized finance is maturing to adapt to this trend.
This shift is most evident in the rise of real-world assets (RWA), and no chain is better positioned for this future than Solana. This is not a showdown between traditional finance (TradFi) and DeFi, but a combination that is ushering in a new era of global finance.
What are Real-World Assets (RWA)?
Real-World Assets (RWA) are traditional financial assets tokenized on-chain, presented in the form of digital tokens on the blockchain. These assets include both tangible assets like real estate and intangible assets like government bonds, stocks, and carbon credits. RWA is backed by real-world value, offering a sustainable and reliable category of digital assets that bridges the gap between decentralized finance (DeFi) and traditional finance.
Okay, but why are they important?
To understand the significance of RWA tokenization, imagine you want to share a large pizza with your friends. You don't need to give each friend the whole pizza, but instead, cut it into small slices, with each slice representing a part of the whole.
Asset tokenization is similar. When an asset is tokenized, it is divided into smaller parts called 'tokens,' each representing a fraction of the asset. These tokens can represent anything of value, from real estate to intellectual property. These tokens are managed and traded using blockchain technology, ensuring that ownership records are secure and transparent, making assets more accessible, liquid, and tradable globally.
Why Choose Solana?
Solana holds a unique advantage in driving real-world asset (RWA) growth with its high throughput, low fees, and scalable infrastructure, which are critical for supporting large-scale real-world financial activities on-chain. With lightning-fast finality and a rapidly expanding ecosystem of RWA-native protocols, Solana provides the speed and efficiency needed for institutional-grade asset tokenization.
In this article, we will explore how Solana combines the speed and scalability of blockchain with the stability of traditional finance to become a leading platform for real-world assets (RWA). We will analyze key indicators of Solana RWA's growth momentum, discuss the most important participants and institutional partners, and depict the broader RWA ecosystem forming on-chain. We will also compare global regulatory approaches, focus on the new opportunities that RWA is releasing, and offer insights into the future direction of this rapidly evolving intersection of TradFi and DeFi.
The Rise of RWA: A New Financial Primitive
From $5 billion to $24 billion: RWA Growth Chart (2022-2025)
The scale of RWA tokenization has soared from $5 billion in 2022 to over $24 billion by June 2025. This increase of 380% makes it the second-fastest-growing area in cryptocurrency, after stablecoins. Although stablecoins are technically tokenized fiat, this analysis does not cover stablecoins.
Source: rwa.xyz
This rapid growth is no longer just hype. We are witnessing a shift from early experimentation to large-scale practical application. By December 2024, the RWA market (excluding stablecoins) reached $15.2 billion, and just six months later, the market size grew year-on-year by 85%, surpassing $24 billion.
This momentum stems from a convergence of infrastructure development and institutional investor interest over the years. Major players like BlackRock, JPMorgan, Franklin Templeton, and Apollo have moved from testing phases to production deployment. Governments are also beginning to view blockchain as critical infrastructure, particularly to modernize outdated financial systems and address broader economic inefficiencies.
Looking ahead, industry forecasts estimate that by 2030 to 2034, 10% to 30% of global assets could be tokenized. This positions RWA as a critical bridge between the $400 trillion assets of traditional finance and cryptocurrency, whose total market cap remains below $3 trillion.
Currently, the integration of RWA with DeFi is accelerating through regulated composable frameworks. Platforms like Ethena, Maple, Morpho, Pendle, Kamino, and Securitize are enabling tokenized assets to gain decentralized liquidity while remaining compliant. This creates new opportunities for yield generation, broader asset distribution, and active secondary markets.
Private credit has become the largest RWA category, with tokenized scale reaching $14 billion by June 2025. This indicates strong institutional demand for blockchain-based credit markets. Tokenization helps reduce operational costs, improve accessibility, and create liquidity in ways traditional finance cannot. These products still meet institutional underwriting standards but are now more open and efficient.
At the infrastructure level, RWA oracles represent a breakthrough. Providers like RedStone are developing new pricing systems that integrate traditional financial metrics (such as net asset values, regulatory data, and adjustments for illiquidity). Unlike typical DeFi oracles, these systems are tailored for institutional adoption and form the foundation for integrating real-world assets at scale into DeFi.
RWA has evolved from a concept into a significant business. Growing from $5 billion to $24 billion is just the beginning of a larger shift in how financial assets flow, trade, and create value on-chain.
Why can tokenized government bonds lead the trend?
Among all real-world assets, tokenized U.S. government bonds have emerged as a breakthrough product, and this is no coincidence. In a high-interest-rate environment, U.S. government bonds provide a low-risk, high-yield instrument that is familiar to traditional investors and attractive to cryptocurrency-native users seeking stability. In crypto terms, stability means not losing half of your portfolio over a weekend. By putting these government-supported assets on-chain, DeFi protocols can offer DeFi users an annual yield of 4-5% (priced in tokenized dollars) without the volatility typical of crypto assets.
The reason government bonds are particularly suitable for tokenization is due to their liquidity, transparency, and regulatory clarity. These instruments are already digitized and actively traded in traditional markets, making the operational shift to blockchain more feasible compared to more complex assets such as real estate or private equity. From a compliance perspective, tokenizing government bonds is also relatively straightforward, especially when issued by regulated entities and supported 1:1 by off-chain custodians.
Platforms like Ondo Finance, Matrixdock, and Backed have seized this opportunity, allowing individuals and institutions to invest directly in tokenized U.S. government bonds. These products not only attract stablecoin users and DAOs seeking safer returns but also lay the groundwork for a range of tokenized fixed-income products in the DeFi space.
Ultimately, tokenized government bonds will serve as a gateway. They are building trust with traditional investors, proving the feasibility of on-chain RWAs, and opening the door for broader attempts at more complex financial instruments in the future.
What does this mean for on-chain finance?
The explosive growth of tokenized RWAs, especially U.S. government bonds, marks a turning point in the development of on-chain finance. It signals a shift in financial activity from speculation and volatility-driven to a more mature ecosystem grounded in utility, yield, and real-world value. For years, DeFi thrived on native crypto assets but lacked effective integration with traditional financial tools worth trillions. RWA fundamentally changes this landscape.
The on-chain presence of assets like government bonds brings new capital efficiency and trust layers. DAOs and protocols can now allocate reserves to yield-generating low-risk assets without leaving the blockchain. Stablecoin issuers can back their tokens with tokenized government bonds, thereby creating a more transparent and auditable system. Even lending markets can evolve to offer loans backed by tokenized government bonds instead of volatile cryptocurrencies.
This transformation also opens doors for new participants. Previously cautious institutional investors, family offices, and fintech companies have now found comfort in familiar financial products delivered through blockchain tracks. This is no longer just about yield farming or meme tokens; it is about building the foundation for a faster, cheaper, and more inclusive parallel financial system.
In short, RWA signifies that DeFi is thriving. The future of on-chain finance will not replace traditional finance but will absorb and enhance it, providing a programmable, globalized, and transparent layer that traditional systems cannot match.
Why Choose Solana? Technical and Economic Reasons
Solana currently leads all blockchains in terms of per capita transaction volume. While this metric may seem niche at first glance, it reveals important information. Solana is not only fast but is also being used at scale, actively and efficiently. High per capita transaction volume means users are not only active but are also transferring significant value within the network. This reflects real engagement from users in trading, payments, DeFi, NFTs, and the growing realm of real-world assets.
For the RWA space, this is a strong signal. Institutions and asset issuers will prioritize cost-effectiveness, speed, and user activity when selecting a blockchain to support tokenized financial products. Solana's ability to process thousands of transactions per second at extremely low costs makes it well-suited for assets requiring frequent settlements, interest distributions, redemptions, or rebalancing. These features are particularly important for tokenized government bonds, bonds, and stocks.
In short, an average transaction volume of $40 million highlights that Solana is ready for significant financial applications. This not only showcases the network's capacity but also proves its practical significance in the real world. To scale RWA, they need more than just tokenization. They need infrastructure capable of supporting high-capacity, high-value financial activities. Solana is already achieving this.
Speed, Cost-effectiveness, and Parallel Transaction Processing
One of the main reasons Solana stands out in real-world asset applications is its unique technical architecture. Unlike most blockchains that process transactions sequentially, Solana uses a system called 'proof of history' that allows for parallel processing of transactions. This means thousands of transactions can be validated and finalized simultaneously, achieving unparalleled speed and scalability.
With transaction fees often just a fraction of a cent, Solana becomes an ideal choice for financial products requiring high-frequency settlement or continuous updates. Whether it's paying interest on tokenized government bonds, issuing dividends on tokenized stocks, or updating ownership records in real-time, Solana's low-latency environment can easily support these use cases.
For RWA, this is not just a technical detail. It directly affects availability and cost-effectiveness. Institutions need infrastructure that can operate at scale without introducing friction. Users want to interact with assets in real-time, not with delays or high gas fees. Solana has achieved this in both respects, offering a blockchain experience closer to traditional financial expectations, while also providing the added benefits of transparency, programmability, and composability.
Combined with robust indicators like trading volume from each holder, Solana's technical advantages further solidify its status as the natural home for tokenized real-world assets.
Today, in addition to speed and cost-effectiveness, Solana's thriving developer ecosystem plays a critical role in driving the adoption of real-world assets. The network attracts thousands of developers who are creating tools, protocols, and infrastructure to make it easier to launch, integrate, and scale tokenized financial products. From smart contract frameworks like Anchor to real-time indexing tools like Helius, and RPC providers like Triton, the developer stack on Solana is maturing rapidly.
This evolving ecosystem is driving the development of composability, which is one of the hallmark features of on-chain finance. In the context of Solana, composability means different protocols can easily interoperate with each other. For RWA, this creates an environment where tokenized assets can directly connect to DeFi primitives like lending markets, liquidity pools, yield aggregators, etc., without complex workarounds or bridging.
For instance, tokenized U.S. government bonds issued by protocols like Ondo can be deposited into lending protocols, used as collateral, or traded instantly on decentralized exchanges. These interactions are possible because Solana has a unified runtime and high transaction throughput that maintains system smoothness and efficiency even under high demand.
In traditional finance, integrating services from multiple institutions requires a slow settlement layer and manual coordination. On Solana, composability makes building financial products as simple and quick as making a cup of tea. Fast, seamless, and programmable. This is a significant advantage for the RWA industry, which requires flexible infrastructure to support innovations in issuance, settlement, custody, and trading.
By enabling developers to build open and interoperable tools and protocols on high-performance chains, Solana provides the ecosystem needed for RWA to achieve global scale.
Without demand, all these technical and ecosystem-level advantages would be meaningless, and this demand is now coming from some of the giants in traditional finance. Over the past year, major institutions have not only taken note of real-world assets but have also started to directly invest in tokenized products on blockchain networks. Particularly Solana, which is becoming a key destination for these institutional activities.
Institutional Validation: Big Names, Big Moves
BlackRock's BUIDL Dollar Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund has become a prominent example. BUIDL launched in March 2024 through Securitize and has since expanded to Solana and six other blockchains, growing from $500 million in July 2024 to $1.7 billion in March 2025, a staggering increase of 240%. Today, the fund holds nearly $3 billion in assets, showcasing significant capital inflows and rapid expansion. The launch of BUIDL marks the reality of institutional DeFi, offering peer-to-peer stock transfers, daily dividend accumulation, and institutional-grade custody services through Anchorage, Copper, Fireblocks, and BNY Mellon.
Franklin Templeton's OnChain U.S. Government Money Market Fund (FOBXX) launched in April 2021 and introduced Solana in February 2025. Currently, the fund manages approximately $594 million in assets, making it the third-largest tokenized money market fund. The fund invests nearly 100% in U.S. government bonds and repurchase agreements, with a seven-day yield of 4.2% as of January 2025. As one of the largest asset management companies globally, managing $16 trillion in total assets, its expansion into Solana indicates a massive vote of confidence in the Solana network's performance.
Institutional adoption will unlock:
1. Market Scope Validation:
When institutions like BlackRock and Franklin Templeton issue tokenized funds, they provide clear legitimacy, assuring regulators, enterprises, and institutional investors that blockchain-based financial products can meet high standards of compliance and oversight.
2. Infrastructure Maturity:
The demand for custody, auditability, and regulatory compliance from institutions forces protocols to upgrade. Securitize's platform acts as a transfer agent, custodian, and fund manager across multiple blockchains, currently supporting over $2.8 billion in tokenized government bonds and managing most top tokenized assets.
3. Enhanced Liquidity and Integration:
Institutional tokenized assets can serve as collateral for DeFi lending pools and even secondary trading markets. Smart contracts support daily yield distributions and programmable fund logic, which is a significant leap from the traditional T+1 settlement cycle.
4. Facilitate Composability and Ecosystem Development:
Institutional-grade RWAs bring new flows to Solana; these assets can be composable for lending, trading, and auto-execution. As BUIDL and FOBXX flow into DeFi applications, they will unlock a broader yield network and financial engineering ecosystem.
In summary, BlackRock and Franklin Templeton have elevated Solana's RWA vision from hopeful potential to a tangible reality. Their on-chain deployments not only validate the space but also accelerate institutional capital injection, upgrade infrastructure, enhance liquidity, and improve composability. This marks a significant moment in the evolution of on-chain finance.
Key Participants and Protocols Driving RWA on Solana
As Solana becomes the preferred destination for real-world assets, more projects are leading the charge. These protocols not only build independent products but also form the foundation of a fully interoperable financial system on-chain. Each protocol focuses on a unique part of the RWA stack, from token issuance and lending to infrastructure and institutional connections.
Ondo Finance:
Ondo Finance has become one of the most influential RWA platforms on Solana. It offers tokenized U.S. government bonds through products like OUSG, allowing both institutions and individuals to invest in short-term government bonds on-chain. Ondo is also expanding globally through partnerships with centralized exchanges, fintech platforms, and cross-border issuance institutions. Its expansion on Solana reflects its commitment to low-cost, high-speed infrastructure, making its products more accessible and scalable.
Maple Finance:
Maple Finance was initially built on Ethereum and has now expanded to Solana to support a new low-collateral on-chain lending model. By collaborating with institutional borrowers and whitelist credit professionals, Maple enables funds to flow into real-world lending markets such as corporate credit and private credit. After migrating to Solana, Maple can improve capital efficiency through faster settlement speeds and lower transaction costs while maintaining regulatory consistency and transparency.
VNX:
VNX is building tokenized infrastructure in Europe, focusing on regulated digital securities backed by assets such as precious metals and fixed-income products. The platform complies with Luxembourg's financial licensing framework and aims to provide European investors with seamless access to tokenized assets. VNX's integration with Solana brings these products into a high-performance environment supporting cross-border issuance and secondary market trading.
R3's Corda and Solana Integration:
R3's Corda is an enterprise-grade blockchain used by major financial institutions like HSBC, European Central Bank, and Swiss Digital Exchange, and is currently integrating with Solana to connect institutional finance with DeFi. This integration allows assets issued on Corda to transfer to Solana's public chain, unlocking liquidity and programmability for traditional financial tools. This partnership combines the regulatory rigor of enterprise blockchains with the speed and composability of Solana.
These protocols collectively showcase the diversity and strength of the Solana RWA ecosystem. They not only introduce assets but also build the infrastructure needed for trading, lending, and utilizing assets within complex financial strategies. This growing network of builders reflects that Solana is becoming an important home for tokenized finance.
Tokenized stocks land on-chain
The launch of xStocks in 2025 marks a significant step for RWA on Solana. Backed Finance, Kraken, Bybit, and the Solana Foundation have launched 55 tokenized stocks and ETFs, such as Apple and Tesla, issued in the form of SPL tokens. These tokens have fully collateralized features, allowing for 1:1 legal redemption and can be traded on centralized exchanges and Solana-native DeFi platforms.
Source: X
Users can now self-custody stocks in wallets like Phantom or Solflare. Fractional ownership starting at $1 makes global access easier, especially for users in restricted regions. However, liquidity for most tokens outside blue-chip stocks remains weak. Weekend price discovery is also limited. Despite these challenges, the support of institutional investors and growing demand indicate that rapid development is on the horizon.
Ecosystem Highlights: Collaboration and Integration
Strong infrastructure partnerships connect traditional finance with blockchain tracks, accelerating Solana's RWA growth.
Jupiter and Kazakhstan Stock Exchange:
Jupiter's collaboration with the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) explores dual listings. The goal is to allow companies to conduct IPOs on KASE and issue tokenized stocks on Solana. This will make Kazakhstan a pioneer in mixed capital markets and signify the growing global trust in public blockchain finance.
Source: X
Stablecoins: Circle and Paxos:
USDC and USDP play a crucial role in RWA settlement. Their integration with Solana enables instant, low-cost settlements and cross-border transfers for tokenized instruments like U.S. government bonds and bonds. These stablecoins enhance the liquidity and availability of financial operations.
Source: X
Wallets, custodians, and compliance infrastructure:
For institutions, secure custody and compliance are paramount. Fireblocks, Anchorage, and Copper provide institutional-grade custody services. Fractal and Civic handle identity verification. Wallets like Backpack and Phantom are adjusting to support financial tokens, enhancing the user experience for both retail and institutional investors.
The Rise of Huma Finance and Income-Supported Loans:
Huma Finance introduces income-based lending on Solana through its PayFi protocol. It allows users to use income streams like payroll or invoices as collateral. Huma’s PST token enables these income streams to access DeFi strategies using Jupiter, Kamino, and RateX. This introduces a new credit layer to the RWA ecosystem, merging DeFi's composability with real-world financial data.
Source: X
xStocks on Jupiter:
Jupiter has integrated xStocks, allowing users to trade U.S. stocks on-chain with low fees and self-custody. The collaboration between Kraken, Backed Finance, and Solana aligns with Jupiter's mission to achieve permissionless access to traditional markets globally.
Source: X
Panorama of the RWA Ecosystem on Solana
As RWA grows on Solana, protocols are organized by functional categories.
Tokenized Government Bonds
Ondo Finance: Offers OUSG, a tokenized short-term government bond.
Superstate: Institutional-grade yield assets.
Franklin Templeton: The FOBXX fund is now live on Solana.
BlackRock's BUIDL Fund: Issued through Securitize and bridged to Solana.
Lending and Underwriting
Maple Finance: Offers low-collateral loans for institutions.
Huma Finance: On-chain income-supported loans.
Credix: Financing through off-chain income (potential Solana integration).
Infrastructure and Compliance
Custodians: Fireblocks, Copper, Anchorage.
KYC/AML: Fractal, Civic
Securitize: Legal transfer and compliance of tokenized funds.
Institutional Integration
R3's Corda: Connecting Financial Giants with Solana.
Kazakhstan Stock Exchange: Exploring tokenized dual listings.
BlackRock and Franklin Templeton: Actively distributing tokenized funds.
Exchanges and Secondary Markets
Jupiter: RWA Liquidity Aggregation.
Phoenix, Orca, Meteora: Supporting RWA token listings.
Wormhole and DLN: Cross-chain asset settlement.
Solana's RWA stack is not isolated. It is an interconnected financial infrastructure covering issuance, custody, trading, and compliance.
Global Regulatory Outlook: Coordinating Traditional Finance (TradFi) with Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
Regulators are slowly catching up with the RWA trend.
United States:
The U.S. remains fragmented. The SEC and CFTC often clash, but recent legislative efforts aim to clarify the status of stablecoins. The activities of BlackRock and Franklin Templeton indicate that, despite slow rule-making, a regulated future path does exist.
European Union:
The EU's MiCA regulations, set to be introduced in 2025, will provide clear definitions for stablecoins and tokenized assets. As pilot projects for digital bonds and tokenized funds advance, the EU is creating a structured and open environment for blockchain finance.
Asia:
Singapore supports tokenized finance through projects like Project Guardian, backed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). Hong Kong has issued licenses to cryptocurrency service providers. Kazakhstan is experimenting with native Solana IPOs, becoming an emerging frontier market.
Regulators in various regions are embracing tokenized government bonds and distinguishing between consumer-grade DeFi and institutional-grade tools. Jurisdictions that provide clear regulation and sandbox support will attract more RWA builders. Solana's compliance tools position it at the forefront.
Opportunities and Future of RWA on Solana
RWA is just getting started. Solana's architecture is empowering new asset classes and more convenient financial services.
Beyond government bonds: Real estate, private credit, and stocks:
Next up are tokenized real estate and private credit. Real estate can be fractionalized to improve liquidity, while private credit can be serviced through transparent, programmable smart contracts. xStocks and Kazakhstan's dual listing pilot demonstrate how tokenized stocks will develop globally.
Composable RWA DeFi:
The composability of Solana allows RWA to be used across protocols. Tokenized treasury bills or real estate tokens can be collateralized, traded, or staked. This transforms assets into programmable financial primitives.
Retail-friendly products and yield enhancement
In the future, some applications will help users allocate savings into baskets of tokenized assets. Solana's low fees and quick confirmation features make retail-friendly, user-friendly tools possible. Users can now purchase U.S. stocks through crypto-native interfaces, earn yields, or use tokenized ETFs as collateral for loans.
Emerging Markets: Latin America, Africa, and Beyond:
In regions ravaged by inflation or lacking banking services, tokenized dollars or stocks are a lifeline. Solana's speed and price advantages make it an ideal choice for deploying RWA at scale in these markets. Mobile access, native stablecoins, and community involvement are key drivers.
Personal Views
RWA momentum is strong, but it also faces the following challenges:
Fragmented Liquidity:
Different platforms have varying standards for issuing assets, which complicates interoperability. Jupiter provides assistance at the aggregation layer, but deeper cross-protocol integration is needed. Issues of slippage and price mismatches persist, especially on weekends.
Legal Enforceability:
Asset tokenization does not guarantee executable rights. Legal agreements and clarity are crucial for global adoption. Differences in cross-border jurisdictions complicate asset validity and investor protection.
Custody and Compliance Risks:
Smart contract risks, poor wallet management, and lack of insurance are all barriers. Institutions need solid custody and compliance frameworks. Even KYC and AML barriers can slow onboarding.
Building trust with traditional investors:
Institutions expect clarity, control, and reliability. The blockchain user experience must continuously evolve to match traditional platforms. Education, transparency, and trust will be as important as performance or innovation.
Conclusion: Solana's RWA Advantages
Solana is no longer just a fast chain. It is a financial platform actively custodian of large-scale RWAs. With support from firms like BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and Kraken, it has developed into a legitimate foundational layer for global finance.
RWAs bring familiarity and regulation to DeFi. Their emergence indicates that DeFi is transitioning from speculative hype to efficient capital markets. Solana's speed, composability, and infrastructure give it a unique ability to lead this new wave.
The launch of tokenized stocks on Arbitrum by Robinhood, as well as the growing institutional support for Solana, indicates that this is just the beginning. Tokenized stocks, private equity, and 24/7 trading will become the norm. The wealth effect will extend to DeFi, stablecoins, and even the meme space.
Now is the time for builders to create utilities, for institutions to modernize their products, and for regulators to help build effective frameworks.
TradFi and DeFi are merging. And Solana is the place to build this future.
