Welcome to Slate Sundays, CryptoSlate’s new weekly characteristic showcasing in-depth interviews, professional evaluation, and thought-provoking op-eds that transcend the headlines to discover the concepts and voices shaping the way forward for crypto.
Tokenized real-world property (RWAs) reached slightly below $300 billion in 2025, with some projections putting the market at $30 trillion by 2034.
A lot of the momentum is led by stablecoins, with Ethereum alone registering an all-time excessive provide of $165 billion this week. However in a world of excessive charges, high-friction, and clunky UX, are blockchain rails prepared to soak up such demand?
Regardless of the various developments in tokenized RWAs, crypto innovators are acutely conscious {that a} actually seamless system stays a transferring goal.
“It’s evolving,” admits Aishwary Gupta, International Head of Funds at Polygon Labs. With a background in web2 funds and treasury administration at American Categorical (“transferring cash throughout the borders”), for Aishwary, the issue isn’t the tech: the technical rails themselves are transferring quick.
“For Polygon, we simply upgraded to 1,000 TPS, and in two months, we’ll be round 5,000 TPS. So successfully, the infrastructure is accessible… You may scale Polygon to have 50,000 transactions per second if the demand is coming in.”
Aishwary maintains that the previous scaling challenges are fading quick, but they’re rapidly being changed by different snags, resembling regulatory hurdles and liquidity bottlenecks.
In simply 4 years, the distinction is 180
Aishwary joined Polygon in 2021 as their “first full-time worker in DeFi.” Evaluating the state of tokenized funds at this time to again then, he says, the distinction is evening and day. 4 years in the past, based on Aishwary, the charges have been increased and the onboarding expertise far worse.
“4 years again, you’ll pay 5%, possibly 10% as an on-ramp price. You would need to strive 5 totally different on-ramps; possibly one works. So, from that scenario to at this time, it’s a lot simpler to exit and do these transactions and get on-ramps on your cash. We now have not absolutely developed, however from a four-year perspective, it has grow to be a lot smoother.”
The issue, Aishwary says, is that charges are formed by market construction and the patchwork of native guidelines:
“There are just one or two gamers particularly markets who’ve both received licensed or are in liquidity sandboxes. So the variety of people who find themselves successfully licensed to do the on-ramps and off-ramps is way decrease. Therefore, you will note all this arbitrage coming in…
On-chain, you’re nonetheless paying just one cent, even if you happen to transfer a billion {dollars}… It’s simply that regulatory arbitrage is in the way in which.”
Regulatory readability: who’s profitable the tokenization race?
If stablecoin issuers and different tokenized RWA suppliers are profiting from regulatory arbitrage, the place are they going? Which areas are finest making ready for the multi-trillion-dollar explosion on this sector, taking the tech and working with it, so to talk?
Aishwary factors to 4 major areas. The world’s monetary capitals, the U.S., Singapore, Europe, and the Center East:
“These are the highest 4 the place we’re seeing huge acceptance.”
The U.S. is main the cost, he says, having been a laggard for therefore lengthy, because of years of regulatory opacity. As BitMEX CEO Stephan Lutz advised me a couple of weeks earlier than, they [the Trump administration] virtually turned the scenario round in a single day with the GENIUS Act, which units out clear standards for stablecoin issuance and supplies long-awaited regulatory readability to U.S. issuers.
Singapore is one other pioneer within the tokenized RWAs area, significantly with regards to stablecoins. Its Fee Companies Act and Monetary Companies and Markets Act create a transparent licensing regime for digital token service suppliers, that are tightly supervised by the Financial Authority of Singapore and aligned with worldwide AML/CFT requirements.
Main corporations like Nium, Zodia Custody, and Crypto.com have chosen Singapore for its revolutionary fee rails and regulatory framework. Aishwary shares:
“Other than U.S. {dollars} within the fee area, I believe we see the second-highest quantity in Singapore {dollars}.”
Europe comes subsequent for Aishwary for example of “sluggish and regular” progress. Whereas the MiCA laws might do with some tweaks, he says they’ve finished “a variety of due diligence” for stablecoin issuers, and established corporations like Bitstamp and Fireblocks now supply regulated digital asset fee providers underneath the MiCA regime.
Lastly, the Center East will not be trailing far behind. In Abu Dhabi, for instance, regulators have outlined necessities for banks issuing stablecoins, creating clear tips for reserve administration and compliance.
Idle capital will all the time chase yield
Since Aishwary introduced up the GENIUS Act, I ask what he thinks in regards to the yield clause, which prohibits stablecoin issuers from paying the holder any type of curiosity or yield. He says:
“The issue is that this capital, which is sitting within the banks, is sitting as a result of they’re accruing at the very least some curiosity, not excessive, however nonetheless one thing. Now, if the identical greenback for you is providing you with higher curiosity on-chain versus off-chain, then successfully you’ll need to preserve your greenback on-chain, which signifies that it really impacts your entire banking circulation.”
In truth, TradFi establishments and crypto-native asset managers alike are more and more searching for yield in on-chain merchandise like tokenized U.S. Treasuries, personal credit score, and controlled money-market funds.
By mid-2025, tokenized Treasuries surpassed $7.4 billion in AUM, with main gamers resembling Goldman Sachs, BNY Mellon, and Securitize actively allocating capital to those merchandise for increased yield, on the spot settlement, and versatile collateralization, typically outperforming typical off-chain financial institution devices.
Traits in tokenized RWAs past stablecoins
We flip from stablecoins to different developments inside tokenized RWAs. Whereas tokenized shares have gotten a favourite speaking level amongst centralized exchanges like Kraken and Coinbase, and DeFi platforms like Synthetix and Mirror Protocol, Aishwary is as frank as he’s analytical:
“Everyone seems to be within the frenzy of tokenized shares. They suppose tokenized shares are the perfect factor. At Polygon, we did tokenized shares a 12 months and a half again. It doesn’t work. There’s no demand.”
I scratch my head and surprise why so little curiosity. He explains:
“Till you’re from North Korea and don’t have entry to Apple shares, I have already got entry to Apple shares in my checking account. Even sitting in India, even sitting in Dubai, wherever on the planet. So that you’re not likely really going to individuals who shouldn’t have entry to it.”
Furthermore, he says, liquidity stays an unsolved difficulty.
“The liquidity on-chain can be a really large downside proper now. They don’t have that a lot liquidity. So more often than not you’ll find yourself having a foul quote or having a foul charge.”
Not precisely the breakthrough many anticipated.
Commodities and non-USD stablecoins
The place does Aishwary see actual promise on this tokenized cash world? Two main developments that “individuals are not specializing in sufficient but” are non-USD stablecoins and tokenized commodities.
“For those who have a look at Polygon, now we have greater than 50 or 60% of the entire market share of non-USD stablecoins, and that’s rising. We’re really increasing on it much more. Commodities are additionally one thing, like gold, silver, to make them accessible and tradable.”
Globally, non-USD stablecoins now comprise round 30% of volumes in lively cross-border corridors exterior america.
For tokenized commodities, the worldwide market dimension reached roughly $25 billion in 2024, with gold tokens alone valued at ~$1.7 billion and oil, silver, and agricultural commodity tokens steadily rising their share. Aishwary provides:
“We now have these commodities or property on chain already, however they haven’t but grown in a means the place they grow to be an ecosystem of their very own, so that’s one thing which is lacking.”
The trail to $30 trillion
As tokenized RWAs balloon into the trillions, it is going to be attention-grabbing to see how the area shakes out. With gold hitting an all-time excessive in strategic reserves as world governments race to build up extra of the arduous asset, it’s logical that tokenized gold will observe.
In just some years, tokenization has moved from proof-of-concept pilots to world infrastructure, with billions now flowing into numerous real-world property throughout continents.
What’s subsequent isn’t nearly scaling up and clearing regulatory hurdles; it’s about how the business can really unlock recent forms of worth and usefulness, reaching far past what stablecoins have already begun.