Tokenization Growth Outpaces Secondary Market Liquidity for RWAs

Executives at Paris Blockchain Week have challenged the prevailing narrative that tokenization serves as a 'magic' solution for the liquidity challenges of traditionally hard-to-trade assets. During a panel discussion, industry leaders emphasized that putting private credit or real estate on-chain does not fundamentally alter the underlying nature of these assets. The discussion highlights a critical distinction between issuance growth and secondary market activity. Oya Celiktemur of Ondo Finance and Francesco Ranieri Fabracci of Tether both noted that while blockchain technology can streamline distribution and ownership, it cannot spontaneously generate demand or liquidity for assets that were historically illiquid. Data from RWA.xyz underscores this trend, showing the tokenized real-world asset (RWA) market expanded from $8.8 billion on April 16, 2025, to approximately $29.9 billion by April 16, 2026. This growth was primarily driven by standardized and widely traded instruments, specifically tokenized US Treasury debt and commodities. In contrast, sectors typically associated with lower liquidity saw smaller absolute gains despite significant percentage growth. Tokenized real estate increased from $35 million to $296 million, while private equity rose from nearly $60 million to $223 million. These figures suggest that while more assets are being issued on-chain, the secondary markets for these specific products remain thin. Ultimately, market participants argue that only a narrow set of instruments—including money market funds, stablecoins, and bonds—are likely to achieve consistent and meaningful liquidity in tokenized markets.