$31B in tokenized assets onchain; under 10% active

DWF Labs reported that more than $31 billion of real-world assets have been tokenized and moved onchain, but less than 10 percent-about $3 billion-are active inside decentralized finance networks.

The research found most tokenized holdings sit in wallets as long-term positions rather than moving through lending markets, trading venues or serving as collateral. Large products, including BlackRock’s BUIDL fund, hold billions of dollar-denominated assets but register fewer than 30 transfers a month, the report notes.

DWF Labs identified three main obstacles to secondary activity. Pricing for private credit and real estate is often slow and opaque because net asset values update daily or less frequently, which makes tight market-making quotes difficult. Settlement and redemption processes can take days, and available onchain liquidity is thin compared with institutional-sized flows. Regulatory restrictions such as transfer limits, know-your-customer checks and investor accreditation rules limit the ability to integrate many tokenized products into permissionless DeFi.

Andrei Grachev, managing partner at DWF Labs, described liquidity as “the binding constraint on scaling tokenization onchain.” The report records that asset managers issuing tokenized products have captured most of the early value, while crypto-native infrastructure providers have captured a smaller share.

Several infrastructure firms are building tools to increase tradability and yield. Maple Finance has wrapped tokenized credit into stablecoin-collateralized products and reports more than $3.6 billion in total value locked. Data and pricing firms such as Pyth and Redstone are developing round-the-clock price feeds for tokenized stocks and commodities. Symbiotic’s Liquid Lane uses a request-for-quote model where market makers compete to price redemption discounts. Figure is developing a technology stack that combines origination, secondary price discovery and settlement.

The report also highlights concentration risks and market gaps. More than 94 percent of tokenized assets onchain are denominated in U.S. dollars. DWF Labs points to emerging-market debt as underrepresented, citing Brazilian real bonds with yields near 10 percent and Turkish lira bonds near 15 percent. Tokenized stocks have grown to more than $1 billion in aggregate value and about 185,000 holders since their recent expansion.

DWF Labs frames tokenization’s first phase as proof that real assets can be digitized and stored on blockchains. The report states the next phase will test whether those assets can be traded, settled and used to generate yield at scale.