Tokenized “real world” assets (RWA) continue to gain popularity. The total capitalization of the direction in seven days increased by 81% - to $8 billion.
RWA token index. Data: CoinGecko.Six of the 15 largest coins in the segment showed triple-digit growth over the week. Some practically did not slow down during the general correction of the crypto market.
Ondo (ONDO) became the leading token, adding 122% in price. At the time of writing, the asset is trading at $0.91 with a capitalization of $1.3 billion.
Hourly chart ONDO/USDT of the Bybit exchange. Data: TradingView.ONDO is the native coin of the Ondo Finance project specializing in decentralized investment products. In February, the platform released tokenized versions of American bonds.
It is followed by Polymesh (POLYX), which grew by 205% to $0.6. Its capitalization reached $619 million.
Hourly chart of POLYX/USDT of the Binance exchange. Data: TradingView.POLYX is a utility token of the first-level blockchain Polymesh, aimed at developing the security coins sector. The network uses the Nominated Proof-of-Stake (NPoS) consensus algorithm developed by Polkadot.
MANTRA (OM) with a capitalization of $577 million took third place. This is perhaps the only asset with negative dynamics in the sector. Over the week, the coin sank by 15%, but over the past day it has regained 5.5%, trading at $0.72.
Hourly OM/USDT chart of the Binance exchange. Data: TradingView.OM is a utility coin of a vertically integrated blockchain ecosystem launched in 2020. The platform creates an infrastructure for combining DeFi and TradFi, through tokenization of “real world” assets.
The RWA sector has become the second most dynamic among other crypto areas. It is surpassed only by “cat” meme tokens.
Using RWA
Parallel to the segment's momentum, several projects and organizations have announced initiatives to introduce tokenized "real world" assets.
On March 19, the Chainlink oracle network and the Avalanche blockchain published the results of a pilot project conducted by the Bank of Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) to transfer tokenized assets between public networks using the Chainlink Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP).
As part of the test, ANZ customers bought stableblocks pegged to New Zealand dollars on Avalanche, and then exchanged them on the Ethereum network for NFTs representing tokenized natural resources of Australia. In turn, the bank contributed to the conversion of fiat into digital currencies.
“The ANZ project illustrates how innovative traditional financial service providers are preparing for a new version of capital markets, enhanced by blockchain. In these tests, the bank is a pioneer in the transfer of on-chain value, while the infrastructure created by Chainlink and Avalanche ensures interoperability and customizability,” said Ava Labs President John Wu.
Other institutions that have implemented CCIP include BNY Mellon, Citi, BNP Paribas, Euroclear, Lloyds Banking Group and SIX Digital Exchange.
According to the Dune dashboard, since the launch of the cross-chain protocol, Chainlink has earned $484,000, 43% of which was received in March.
On March 25, Monetary Authority of Singapore-licensed RWA exchange DigitFT launched the first tokenized depositary receipts (DRs) providing ownership of US Treasury bills.
The company stated that the assets legally represent the direct beneficial interest of token holders, while facilitating settlements on the network.
“DigiFT USA Tokens (DRUST) — first sentence within the DR structure. Each DRUST is directly backed by highly liquid and short-term AA+ rated US Treasury bills specifically designed for stablecoin issuers and Web3 product developers/managers,” exchange representatives explained.
Recall that in January, the “real world” asset tokenization platform Dinari closed a $10 million round of seed funding. The project team has already launched two dozen dShare RWA coins on Arbitrum, which represent stocks, exchange-traded products, real estate and other assets.