While the broader markets remain under pressure, Real-World Assets (RWAs) are emerging as one of the few sectors that are receiving sustained interest. The market has grown by more than 150% this year. Furthermore, Chris Yin, co-founder and CEO of Plume, expects that the market could even grow 10 to 20 times in both value and user numbers in the coming year, even with conservative assumptions.
In an interview with BeInCrypto, Yin explained why Real-World Assets (RWAs) are becoming more popular in the market at this moment. He also indicated why they can continue to play a key role in the next market cycle.
Why investors will choose RWAs in 2025
In the fourth quarter, the broader cryptocurrency market was under significant pressure, causing many people to exit. Nevertheless, the RWA segment has managed to attract both retail and institutional interest.
Data from RWA.xyz showed that the total number of asset holders has increased by 103.7% last month. This shows that engagement is growing, even as market sentiment weakens.
According to Plume’s co-founder,
“The RWA market is driven by interest from various sectors in on-chain assets that are linked to the real world. There is a certain degree of certainty, as we are now in a situation that is neither entirely bear nor entirely bull.”
As the economic downturn continues, Yin emphasized that investors are becoming increasingly cautious due to volatility and the risk of declining returns in DeFi markets. RWAs are therefore seen as a source of more stable yields.
As DeFi yields come under pressure and economic uncertainty remains, tokenized government bonds or private credit instruments are becoming more attractive when looking at the risk-return.
He also pointed to the rapid growth of stablecoins this year as evidence that the market is moving stronger towards stability. This is especially true for institutional participants.
“Since stablecoins are the foundation for RWA onboarding, the next logical step is to develop yield coins and yield opportunities for these RWAs. People want high-quality assets that provide safe, stable, and reliable returns. Stablecoins attract people, yields are what institutions and retail draw to these assets,” Yin told BeInCrypto.
As investors continue to choose stability, Yin also acknowledges that one of the biggest concerns around RWAs is that it can bring additional KYC and compliance risks.
Nevertheless, he says that tokenization can actually strengthen regulation. This can be done by programming identity checks, access rights, and transfer restrictions directly into the asset.
Instead of relying on loose, off-chain compliance processes, issuers can enforce rules within the token itself with real-time eligibility checks, automatic reporting, and immutable audit trails.
RWAs remain a core market theme in the next cycle
As RWAs gain more attention this year, Yin says the segment will remain central in the next market cycle for both traditional and decentralized finance.
He emphasizes that the value of RWAs is now primarily in tokenized government bonds. But as the market matures further, Yin expects more adoption of private credit and a greater variety of alternative assets.
This could be tokenized exposure to mineral rights such as oil. But also GPUs, energy infrastructure, and other real assets are possible.
“The winners are those who recognize these opportunities in time, rather than just doing more of what has worked so far,” said the executive.
Last month, Coinbase Ventures emphasized that RWA-perpetuals are one of the categories they want to actively invest in by 2026, a powerful sign of confidence. Yin also stated that the company has always been bullish on RWA-perpetuals.
According to Yin, perpetuals often lead to trading volumes that are much higher than spot markets, particularly due to the better user experience. He explains that perps are easy to use, allowing for easy speculation on price movements and trading with leverage.
“At Plume, we always say you let RWAs work on-chain by making them for the on-chain audience, so by embedding RWAs in a user experience that crypto-native people know. For spot, that means making it permissionless, connectable, and liquid – we do this with our RWA-yield protocol Nest on Plume. And another way in which crypto-natives trade assets is via perpetuals. Therefore, we are very bullish and excited about that form and what it could mean for RWAs,” he explained.
Yin also pointed to the growing innovation around real yields. He says this is completely changing the way yields are offered and traded via blockchain.
As an example, Yin mentions Pendle. By splitting the principal and the yield, this protocol creates a new market model for tokenized RWA cash flows.
In addition to individual protocols, Yin notes that RWAs are gaining more momentum across multiple blockchain ecosystems.
“Solana’s RWA wave shows what happens when yield becomes fast, programmable, and accessible to millions of users,” he noted.
Yin added that the speed and throughput of Solana make it one of the few networks that can support high-frequency yield operations on a large scale. This capability is becoming increasingly important as RWAs shift from passive income instruments to a more active, tradable yield economy.
“The experiments there feel like a preview of the next chapter in the RWA sector. Tools that bring RWAs on-chain in a crypto-native way are very interesting. RWA-perps is certainly one category, but also various other new asset classes like sports/pokemon cards with Tradible, or financial innovations like insurance with Cork, and much more,” he stated.
In addition to this growth, Yin emphasized that alignment with regulations and legislation remains a central priority. He indicated that projects that take compliance seriously are likely to emerge as long-term winners, especially now that governments and large institutions are increasingly imposing requirements for built-in oversight measures and clear standards for on-chain issuance of assets.
What to expect from the RWA sector in 2026
Looking to the future, Yin identified three key growth factors that he expects will bring the RWA sector to new heights in the coming 12 months. First, he pointed to the ongoing bottom-up usage and growth of RWAs.
Yin noted that the RWA value has more than tripled in the past year. The number of RWA holders has also grown more than seven times.
“The launch of the Plume mainnet has more than doubled the number of RWA holders, and I believe this will continue to accelerate within the crypto-native audience, as RWAs still represent only a small part of the total crypto-native market capitalization,” he remarked.
Secondly, Yin pointed to the increasing top-down alignment by institutions and regulators. According to him, governments, financial institutions, and technology companies are now actively focusing on tokenization. Although such initiatives take time, Yin believes they could ultimately bring billions of dollars in assets on-chain.
Finally, the Plume director pointed to broader macroeconomic conditions as a structural tailwind.
“The macro conditions as they stand mean that people — both off-chain and on-chain — are constantly looking for stable yields, and that alternative assets are becoming increasingly important. Both developments open the door for more organic on-chain growth of RWAs,” he told BeInCrypto.
Yin concluded that there is little reason to expect the momentum to weaken, given the number of catalysts. According to him:
“A growth of 10 to 20 times in value and users next year is on the low side of what we can expect.”
As a result, RWAs are increasingly being seen as a structural shift and not just a short hype in 2026. With growing usage, more types of assets, and stronger alignment, the sector is well-positioned to play a central role in the next phase of on-chain growth.
