Standard Chartered Predicts $2 Trillion Real-World Asset Market by 2028

Investment bank Standard Chartered projects that the real-world asset (RWA) market could reach $2 trillion by 2028, a level that would rival the current size of the stablecoin ￰0￱ at the bank say that an increasing share of global capital and payments is moving onto blockchain-based systems, driving rapid growth across DeFi and tokenized asset markets. “Stablecoin liquidity and DeFi banking are important pre-requisites for a rapid expansion of tokenised RWAs,” said Jeff Kendrick, Global Head of Digital Assets at Standard ￰1￱ to RWA. xyz, the current market capitalization of tokenized real-world assets is about $35.5 billion — but Standard Chartered expects this to grow more than 57-fold within three ￰2￱ the $2 Trillion Could Come From The report breaks down the forecasted $2 trillion market as follows: $750 billion in money market funds $750 billion in tokenized ￰3￱ $250 billion in tokenized ￰4￱ $250 billion in less liquid assets such as private equity, commodities, corporate debt, and real estate A Coinbase study earlier this year revealed that the RWA segment expanded 245-fold year-over-year, reaching $21 billion in April 2025.

Meanwhile, CoinGecko data shows that tokenized ￰5￱ securities surged 544.8%, totaling $5.6 ￰6￱ of early October 2025, stablecoin market capitalization surpassed $300 billion, a 47% increase since the beginning of the year. “In DeFi, liquidity begets new products, and new products beget new liquidity,” he wrote. “We believe a self-sustaining cycle of DeFi growth has started,” Kendrick ￰7￱ Hurdles and the Rise of Gold-Backed Tokens Despite the upbeat forecast, Standard Chartered cautioned that regulatory uncertainty remains the biggest risk for the ￰8￱ bank warned that progress could stall if the Trump administration does not introduce comprehensive crypto legislation before the 2026 midterm ￰9￱ the growing focus on real-world assets, Tether Gold (XAUT) has shown record ￰10￱ the end of Q3 2025, its market capitalization surpassed $2.1 billion, making it the largest tokenized gold-backed asset in the ￰11￱ to Tether, October 2025 marked a turning point for the tokenized asset industry, as more investment funds, fintech firms, and government agencies adopt blockchain-based asset management ￰12￱ prices also reached historic highs in 2025, driven by inflationary pressures, geopolitical uncertainty, and strong central-bank demand.

“Tether Gold proves that real assets can exist effectively on-chain without compromise,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether. It’s worth noting that Binance Research’s 2024 report projected the RWA market to reach $12 billion, while Real Vision analyst Jamie Coutts estimated it could climb to $1.3 trillion by 2030 — both forecasts now dwarfed by Standard Chartered’s new $2 trillion outlook.