Real-World Assets (RWAs) in Crypto: A Comprehensive Guide to the Basics and the Largest RWA Cryptocurrencies

Tokenized real-world assets have remained a red-hot segment of Web3 development. Once called a “trillion-dollar” opportunity

Since the inception of ERC-20 tokens and decentralized finance (DeFi), tokenized real-world assets have remained a red-hot segment of Web3 development. Once called a “trillion-dollar” opportunity, the sphere of RWAs has its own risks and promises.

RWA tokens, i.e., cryptocurrencies somehow associated with protocols addressing real-world use cases, are also in the spotlight. In this guide, we are going to navigate through the basics of the on-chain real-world assets sphere and the largest RWA cryptocurrencies.

Real-world assets in crypto: Quick facts

Real-world assets (abbreviated as RWAs) represent tokenized (on-chain) avatars of various classes of goods or rights that exist outside blockchains.

As per CoinGecko, the segment of RWA tokens is valued over $19 billion, while the total addressable market (TAM) size for tokenization exceeds trillions of dollars.

What are real-world assets in crypto?

In crypto and blockchain, real-world assets or RWAs refer to traditional financial assets like agriculture products, precious metals, binds and stocks, but represented as blockchain-base tokens. Therefore, on-chain RWAs can be easily stored and transferred on-chain just like regular tokens.

Thanks to the process of tokenization, ownership rights or claims are converted into digital tokens, allowing them to be traded solely on-chain.

With RWAs, people can both invest in the assets that already exist in the physical world (like raw materials) and purchase the goods unimaginable in Web2 (1/1,000 share of an artwork, a tokenized piece of content and so on).

RWAs in crypto: possible use cases

With modern tokenization principles, almost every asset and object that exists in the physical world can be tokenized. However, with the proper economic motivation, some classes of assets became more popular than others.

Example: tokenized fund by Franklin Templeton on Polygon (POL) and other EVM blockchains.

Example: tokenized real estate trusts in the U.S.

Example: tokenized digital ownership rights in ERC 6551 tokens.

Simply put, that’s how the tokenization process works: Some Web3 firm inks an agreement with the owner or holder of physical assets, obtains the necessary rights and then issues (mints) tokens with predetermined properties (aggregated supply, token code details, fungibility and so on)

Then, these tokens are offered to the community not unlike regular altcoins or, in case of something non-fungible (unique) like ERC-721, NFTs.

Why blockchains are necessary for RWAs trading

Being distributed, decentralized, tamper-proof and transparent systems, blockchains are inevitable for creating digital representations of real-world assets (RWAs).

Transparency

In blockchains, every transaction can easily be verified, including the very fact of asset minting/burning and every transfer associated with it. Even with no specific technical knowledge, every trader or investor can check the status of the asset they are going to buy.

Flexibility

While in Web2 creating new assets is associated with regulatory, infrastructure and economical challenges, in crypto, on-chain assets of various types can be created in a couple of clips. As such, it unveils unmatched opportunities for issuing different types of RWAs suitable for diverse investing strategies.

Resource-efficiency

In cryptocurrency, new tokens can be minted for a fraction of cent while transfers are charged with negligible commissions. Also, the storage of RWAs in crypto wallets is way cheaper than that with “real” Gold, Silver, let alone crude oil or agriculture production.

While in other segments (cross-border transfers, data storage and so on), blockchain accelerated existing developments, in RWAs it created a totally new technical basis that previously could hardly be imagined.

RWA crypto coins: What to know

RWA cryptocurrencies represent the thriving class of crypto assets that are associated with projects addressing real-world assets in blockchain in various ways. The interest in RWA solutions is mirrored by the spikes of popularity of RWA crypto tokens.

Mantra (OM)

Launched in 2020, Mantra (OM), previously known as Mantra DAO, is one of the pioneering Layer 1 blockchains specifically designed for operations with real-world assets. Its mainnet kicked off in October 2024, triggering much enthusiasm in the segment.

OM, Mantra’s native ecosystem token, migrated to its own chain immediately after the mainnet release. OM’s staking is also available. Mantra's (OM) team stresses that it is focused on making on-chain operations with RWAs fully regulatory-compliant.

Ondo Finance (ONDO)

Introduced in early 2021, Ondo Finance (ONDO) offers a wide range of financial products from Web2 available as cryptocurrency tokens. Ondo Finance (ONDO) became popular due