The decline in the cryptocurrency market has continued today. Over the past month, the total market capitalization has fallen by 3.17%, with sustained selling pressure. However, one sector, namely tokenized real-world assets (RWA), has deviated from this trend.
The value of decentralized assets has continued to rise, reaching an all-time high despite unfavorable market conditions.
Continued Bitcoin selling… RWA impact minimal
According to data from RWA.xyz, the current value of decentralized assets in this sector has reached $19.06 billion. This represents a 4.59% increase in value over the past month.
At the same time, the total asset value that has emerged in this field has reached $414.6 billion. This is largely driven by $395.2 billion of institutional assets managed by the Canton Network.
The number of asset holders has also increased by 7.23% to 583,821. Stablecoins still dominate this sector, recording a total of $299.17 billion and 21.254 million holders. This represents a 4.12% increase compared to the same period.
Kevin Ruscher, founder of RAAC, which operates the RWA lending and borrowing ecosystem, stated that the market's attention in the cryptocurrency sector is mainly focused on Bitcoin's price. Bitcoin's price has been continuously declining. He mentioned that the recent situation indicates that selling pressure may persist.
“As usual, the most attention in the cryptocurrency sector is focused on Bitcoin's price. Bitcoin's price seems to be racing past 2025. News emerged yesterday that Strategy temporarily halted Bitcoin purchases and converted over $700 million into cash. This situation suggests the possibility of continued selling pressure. This year, inflows into Bitcoin have also significantly decreased compared to last year, dropping to $27.2 billion in 2024 from $41.6 billion last year.” – Kevin Ruscher, Founder of RAAC
Tokenized gold emerges as a major driver of growth
Despite the overall bearishness, Ruscher emphasized that selling pressure has not impacted the tokenized real-world assets sector. He pointed out that even though this segment is generating the strongest returns this year, it is still largely overlooked in the overall cryptocurrency market.
This growth is also significantly supported by the surge in global gold demand. The precious metal gold is consistently setting new all-time highs. Products tokenized from this gold are showing particularly strong momentum.
“In fact, tokenized gold has increased by 227% from $1 billion at the beginning of the year to over $3.27 billion. The RWA commodities sector is one of the major growth areas this year. At the beginning of 2025, there were only four gold products in this sector, but by the end of this year, it has expanded to 15 products including gold, oil, wheat, platinum, and soybeans.” – Kevin Ruscher, Founder of RAAC
Meanwhile, Shekhram Katak, the legal head of Trust Wallet, mentioned that tokenized gold could emerge as a strong competitor to Bitcoin.
“Right now, we are in a situation where we are considering real-world assets like tokenized gold. If tokenized gold is properly tokenized, this is a significant point that must be addressed. Bitcoin is often used as a store of value. If so, tokenized gold could become a very strong competitor to Bitcoin.” – Shekhram Katak, Legal Head at Trust Wallet
Additionally, Ruscher stated that the growth of this sector is fueled not only by institutional demand but also by increased participation from individual investors. He explained that individual investors are turning their attention to stable on-chain assets instead of completely exiting the market during times of high volatility.
“This year's significant volatility has made this sector robust and high in growth potential. This is a very positive signal for the overall growth of the cryptocurrency market. The RWA sector provides a solid foundation for the liquidity of cryptocurrency funds to be maintained even in difficult market conditions. RWA is clearly the future of cryptocurrency and deserves more attention.” – Kevin Ruscher, RAAC Founder
In 2026, the tokenization market is projected to be worth $10 billion.
Looking ahead, Jesse Nutson, Head of Securities Operations at Bitfinex, predicts that the overall tokenization market will grow to at least $100 billion by the end of 2026.
He anticipates that tokenized bond products will maintain a leading position in the near future. Conversely, the proportion of tokenized stocks is expected to gradually expand.
Nutson added that the continued tokenization of stocks will attract more individual investors, broadening the investor base for tokenized assets.
“Tokenization transparently opens up investment opportunities that are otherwise inaccessible in the traditional market, such as small financial bonds, litigation finance products, and Bitcoin hash rate contracts. This trend is expected to continue until 2026. More diverse alternative assets, innovative Bitcoin mining yield-related bonds, and tokenized ETFs will expand.” – Jesse Nutson, Head of Securities Operations at Bitfinex
Chris In, CEO of Plume, has previously stated that even with conservative assumptions, value and users will expand by 10 to 20 times by 2026. As the real-world asset sector continues to grow, the achievements of 2026 are expected to be a major point of interest.
