Real-World Assets (RWAs) See Growing Adoption Across DeFi
A new report shows real-world assets are expanding across decentralized finance despite a broader slowdown in the sector, signaling growing demand for practical onchain financial products.
Decentralized finance may be cooling, but tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) continue to move in the opposite direction.
A new joint report from CoinShares and Token Terminal, published on Aug. 6, shows that RWA adoption accelerated throughout the second quarter of 2026, with tokenized traditional assets becoming increasingly integrated into decentralized lending, trading, and collateral markets. Rather than simply representing offchain assets on a blockchain, RWAs are now playing an active role in onchain finance.
The findings point to a broader transformation that CoinShares describes as the emergence of “Hybrid Finance”—a model where traditional financial assets and decentralized infrastructure become increasingly interconnected.
RWA Deposits Rise as DeFi Contracts
While the wider DeFi ecosystem experienced a slowdown, RWA deposits climbed sharply.
According to the report, RWA deposits across DeFi platforms reached $7.4 billion in Q2 2026, representing more than threefold year-over-year growth. Over the same period, total DeFi deposits declined by roughly 15%, highlighting a significant divergence between tokenized assets and the broader decentralized finance market.
CoinShares argues this trend reflects a structural shift rather than a temporary market cycle.
“This divergence is the signal. When an asset class grows through a downturn in its host ecosystem, demand is being driven by financial utility, not by market cycles. That is precisely what Hybrid Finance predicted: tokenisation is structural, not cyclical.”
— Jean-Marie Mognetti, CEO of CoinShares
The report suggests that investors are increasingly using tokenized securities, stablecoins, and other RWAs as productive financial instruments instead of treating them as passive blockchain representations of traditional assets.
Yield-Bearing Assets Become Core DeFi Collateral
Among the fastest-growing categories are yield-bearing stablecoins and tokenized U.S. Treasury products, which have become key sources of liquidity and collateral throughout DeFi.
During the second quarter:
- Sky Protocol’s sUSDS emerged as the leading yield-bearing stablecoin in the sector.
- BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) strengthened its position as one of the largest tokenized Treasury products used in decentralized lending.
- RWA products generated yields ranging from approximately 3.2% to 5.5%, with Treasury-backed products offering lower-risk returns while higher-yield strategies carried additional risk.
Rather than remaining idle holdings, these assets are increasingly being deposited into lending markets, used as collateral, and incorporated into yield-generating strategies across decentralized protocols.
Gold and Yield Products Fuel Secondary Market Activity
The report also highlights rapid growth in secondary market trading for tokenized assets.
According to CoinShares, spot trading volumes for RWAs increased by roughly 220% year over year, even as overall decentralized exchange (DEX) trading volumes fell around 70%.
A large share of that activity came from:
- Gold-backed tokens, including Tether Gold (XAUt) and Paxos Gold (PAXG).
- Yield-bearing dollar products, such as Ethena’s sUSDe.
CoinShares attributes the increase partly to investors actively trading exposure to gold price movements while also seeking yield-producing digital dollar products.
The report notes that expanding secondary markets allow investors to trade ownership of tokenized assets instead of relying solely on direct purchases from issuers, improving liquidity across the ecosystem.
Tokenized Assets Expand Into Derivatives
Beyond spot markets, RWAs are also gaining traction in onchain derivatives.
The report says RWA perpetual futures trading has continued expanding despite weaker activity across many crypto-native derivatives markets.
One example is tradeXYZ, an RWA-focused perpetual futures platform built on Hyperliquid, where trading volume has increased approximately 20-fold since launch.
Trading activity has primarily centered on:
- Commodities
- Technology stocks
- S&P 500
- Nasdaq-100
At the same time, open interest has continued to rise, suggesting sustained participation as traders gain leveraged exposure to traditional financial assets without directly owning them.
Hybrid Finance Gains Momentum
CoinShares concludes that the data reflects a broader evolution of blockchain-based finance.
Instead of being driven primarily by speculative crypto-native activity, decentralized finance is increasingly becoming infrastructure for traditional financial assets. As institutions continue tokenizing Treasuries, commodities, stablecoins, and other real-world assets, these instruments are finding practical use across lending markets, trading venues, and collateral frameworks.
The continued expansion of RWAs despite a broader DeFi slowdown suggests that financial utility—not market sentiment—is becoming the primary driver of adoption. If this trajectory continues, Hybrid Finance could strengthen the connection between traditional capital markets and blockchain networks, expanding DeFi’s role well beyond native digital assets.
Learn More with CryptoPulse.News
- What Are Real-World Assets (RWA) in Crypto
- What Is Tokenization and How It Transforms Finance
- What Is DeFi? A Simple Guide to Decentralized Finance
- How to Read Crypto News and Understand Market Impact
