Author: Ryan Sean Adams and Jack Inabinet Source: Bankless Translation: Shan Ouba, Golden Finance
Ethereum is winning the war for real-world assets (RWA), and no other chain can match it. RWAs operate like a flywheel: the more liquidity there is, the greater the attraction, and institutions will chase the funds. The dominant force here is the power law, and Ethereum's network effects operate at three levels: superior, better, and best:
Superior = Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)
Better = Ethereum L2
Best = Ethereum L1
Let's delve into the different categories of RWAs and Ethereum's dominance in each field
Stablecoins
Stablecoins are the largest RWA category—90% of all on-chain RWAs are stablecoins. Stablecoins are the most mature RWA category, and since RWAs rely on the liquidity of stablecoins, they often develop in sync.
Ethereum L1 already has nearly $160 billion in stablecoins. This accounts for 57% of all stablecoins (which is an impressive statistic in itself), and if we include all stablecoins issued on EVM-compatible chains, the market share will reach 95%.
This means that 95% of stablecoins are consolidating Ethereum's existing network effects. Even the latest and most eye-catching networks focused on stablecoins, such as Stripe's Tempo, Circle's Arc, and Tether's Plasma, are all using EVM.
The well-known stablecoin issuers include centralized players—like Circle and Tether (which together issued $130 billion in stablecoins on Ethereum)—as well as decentralized protocols—led by Ethena and Sky (which together issued $24 billion in stablecoins on Ethereum).
Trump is also deploying a digital dollar on Ethereum through World Liberty Financial's USD1 stablecoin, which has a market value of $275 million on Ethereum, with another $2.2 billion of USD1 existing on other EVM chains.
For a long time, stablecoins have been considered the lifeblood of the on-chain economy, and they are increasingly driving the real-world economy. Whether for everyday payments or multi-billion dollar transactions, ordinary people and the largest funds in the world are turning to stablecoins to simplify payments.
In the stablecoin space, EVM dominates and its momentum is continuously increasing. Winning the stablecoin race means winning RWAs, and Ethereum's network effects in the stablecoin domain are already astounding.
Data Source: RWA.xyz
Government bonds
Government bonds are global reserve assets, and Ethereum is the on-chain home for government bonds.
Ethereum L1 has locked in $5.2 billion in government bond products, capturing 70% of the market share. When considering the broader EVM ecosystem, the industry dominance will reach 86%.
Many major companies in the traditional financial asset management sector have launched their own tokenized government bond products on Ethereum.
BlackRock, which once served as an investment manager for the Federal Reserve, has won the title of largest issuer with BUIDL, a $2.2 billion on-chain money market fund designed for institutions that maintains a stable $1 value and pays daily interest directly to wallets (90% on Ethereum).
The traditional financial brokerage firm Fidelity has recently entered the field of tokenized government bonds. Earlier this month, it minted $203 million worth of FDIT (the on-chain representation of Fidelity Treasury Digital Fund), specifically deployed on Ethereum L1.
For all other tokenized government bond issuers that follow, the logic is simple: choose to deploy on Ethereum, and no one will be fired for it. The pioneers have paved the way, recognizing the advantages of this chain and the need for world-leading liquidity.
That is why Ethereum now has 34 different government bond products (more than double that of the second-ranked network).
Data Source: RWA.xyz
Gold
Ethereum L1 is home to nearly $2 billion in tokenized gold, accounting for 78% of the global tokenized gold. If EVM chains are included, this proportion jumps to 99.96%, marking Ethereum's absolute dominance.
Since the end of August, gold prices have risen by 10%. While we see greater daily volatility in ETH, it is clear that we are in another phase of the gold bull market of 2025.
During this period, the total value of tokenized gold issued by industry leaders Paxos (PAXG) and Tether (XAUT) has surged. PAXG is only available on the Ethereum network, while 99.9% of XAUT is also issued on L1.
Compared to the $231 billion gold ETF market or the estimated $27.4 trillion value of physical gold, the tokenized gold market is just getting started. But when large gold institutions decide to tokenize (like BlackRock's iShares Gold ETF), the proven Ethereum will be the obvious place to deploy.
If you are bullish on on-chain gold, you are bullish on Ethereum.
Data Source: RWA.xyz
Stocks
Tokenized stocks are the youngest RWA market, and their development is limited by the regulatory uncertainties brought about by putting stocks on-chain.
Today, the market size for tokenized stocks is very small, valued at only $420 million. This is also the only RWA category where Ethereum does not have a clear lead. Ethereum L1 only hosts 15% of on-chain stocks, which is a rare exception to its usual RWA dominance.
However, upon closer inspection, leading competitors Algorand and XRP each only have one stock, while Ethereum has 200. Additionally, Exodus Movement (the only stock on Algorand) recently announced it will issue equity on Ethereum (and Solana).
If Algorand and XRP are excluded from the competition, Ethereum L1 will control 44% of all tokenized stocks, followed closely by Solana at 30%.
Data Source: RWA.xyz
Does Solana have a chance here? Perhaps, but one must consider the resistance it faces.
Just like tokenized government bonds, many top tokenized stock issuers have already chosen Ethereum L1 as their home.
A typical example is the recently deployed Ondo Global Markets, which has issued $63 million worth of tokenized certificates corresponding to 103 different individual stocks, stock indices, and ETFs—and is only available on the Ethereum L1 network.
Moreover, Robinhood, eToro, and Coinbase are all preparing to launch tokenized securities. Once the SEC gives the green light for tokenized stocks, they are likely to issue these securities on proprietary Ethereum L2s...
The ultimate game of network effects
Traditional finance also shows clear network effects. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), as the largest exchange in the world, occupies over a quarter of the global stock market value and hosts most major U.S. companies.
Source: New York Stock Exchange
Wall Street's industry organizations have begun experimenting with EVM-based technology in hopes of achieving asset tokenization. In this context, it is hard to imagine any other chain could overcome Ethereum's profound network effects.
Ethereum L1 controls $160 billion of RWAs (79% market share)
With Ethereum L2s included, this number rises to $185 billion (86% market share)
If we include all EVM chains, Ethereum occupies a total of $200 billion (93% market share)
In other words:
93% of RWAs are at least superior for Ethereum
86% of RWAs are at least more superior for Ethereum
79% of RWAs are optimal for Ethereum
That is why people like Tom Lee say institutions are building on Ethereum. Because the fact is just that.
Ethereum is winning the RWAs game, and no other chain can match it.
But what if EVM wins, and Ethereum doesn't?
Some still believe EVM will win, but Ethereum will not.
They will point to those permissioned enterprise chains building independent L1 EVMs and exclaim, 'Look! They are building a superior version of Ethereum.'
However, each centralized EVM chain will only reinforce Ethereum's leading position. All enterprise chains agree to use Ethereum to ensure security and neutrality, and in this regard, no other chain can compete.
But what if Ethereum wins, and ETH doesn't?
Others believe that RWAs will not add value to the asset ETH and assume that this sector will not directly increase Ethereum's revenue.
However, if Ethereum becomes the global ledger, then the asset ETH replacing other stores of value like Bitcoin and gold is not far-fetched.
In a world lacking original collateral, Ethereum is in a unique position for success: it has a deflationary mechanism, appreciation supply dynamics, and no counterparty risk.
Once the market understands this powerful trinity, the whole world will grasp this truth.
Ethereum = Global Ledger ETH = Global Reserve Asset
