BitMart, one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges, today released the second issue of its State of Real-World Assets research series. Titled “From Authorization to Practice: Institutional Deployment, Asset Allocation, and the HNW Opportunity,” the report examines the structural gap between the regulatory frameworks currently in place and the institutional-scale capital deployment they are intended to enable.
Developed in collaboration with Dune, RedStone, and Optimism, the report brings together onchain data, Oracle infrastructure, and Layer 2 deployment perspectives to provide a cross-industry view of where the RWA market stands – and what it will take to close the gap between regulatory authorization and real-world execution.
Building the infrastructure story, not just covering it
BitMart launched the State of RWA series with a specific belief: that the most valuable contribution a globally compliant exchange can make to the RWA ecosystem is not product promotion, but honest analysis. There is no shortage of optimism in the industry regarding tokenization. What’s missing is a rigorous, infrastructure-first assessment of why institutional capital is moving more slowly than the regulatory environment suggests – and what it will actually take to close that gap.
Number 02 is the continuation of this commitment. While Issue 01 mapped the emerging landscape, Issue 02 goes deeper – into the operational barriers that custody gaps, liquidity fragmentation, and legal enforcement challenges create for institutional allocators, and into the disproportionate opportunity that tokenized RWAs represent for the $90 trillion high net worth market. BitMart is uniquely positioned to lead this analysis: serving clients in over 180 countries, operating at the intersection of institutional compliance and retail accessibility, and building infrastructure for the next generation of digital asset markets.
The co-authorship model – integrating Dune for on-chain data, RedStone for Oracle and settlement infrastructure, and Optimism for L2 deployment realities – reflects a deliberate choice to base each claim on operational evidence rather than a market narrative.
What the data shows
Onchain RWA TVL grew from around $6 billion at the start of 2025 to $24.6 billion in April 2026, a nearly five-fold increase. The GENIUS Act, MiCA and the Hong Kong Stablecoin Ordinance have collectively established the first consistent cross-jurisdictional compliance architecture for the issuance of tokenized assets. The regulatory window is open.
Yet, out of approximately $27 billion in RWA tokenized on-chain, only about 10% is actively used as DeFi collateral. The remaining 90% is in portfolios as yield-generating balances – productive, but not composable. The main conclusion of the report is that this is not a regulatory problem or a demand problem. This is an infrastructure problem: custody standards, cross-chain liquidity, legal enforceability, and institutional-level reporting all remain under construction. The institutions that resolve these levels first will define the competitive landscape for the next decade of digital asset markets.
Key data points from the report: BlackRock’s BUIDL fund surpassed $2.4 billion in assets under management, a 12-fold increase in less than two years, illustrating what is achievable when brand trust, compliant custody architecture and DeFi integration converge. Tokenized private credit, offering annualized returns of 8-12%, dominates DeFi loan deposits despite representing only a fraction of total tokenized assets under management. And for wealthy investors, a 5% allocation to tokenized RWAs from the global HNW and UHNW population would represent more than 160 times the current total market size – the largest untapped opportunity in the space.
Co-author perspectives
Dune’s contribution maps the composability gap at the chain level, showing that the most widely held tokenized assets are the least actively deployed as collateral, and why integration design is more important than chain count. RedStone identifies the maturity mismatch at the heart of RWA-DeFi integration: infrastructure built for assets that settle in seconds cannot natively handle a 90-day Treasury or trade finance receivable. The optimism provides a baseline signal from the mid-2026 institutional rollout wave, including OP Mainnet’s proprietary TVL data following the April launches of BlackRock BUIDL, Mitsui’s ZipangCoin, and EtherFi’s 300,000 account migration.
“The RWA market has overcome the regulatory hurdle. The next step is more difficult and more important: building the operational infrastructure that makes large-scale institutional deployment possible. BitMart Research exists to honestly track this work – where progress is real, where gaps remain, and what it will take to close them. Number 02 is our answer to this question for 2026.” – BitMart Search
Report availability
The full report is available for download at:
This report is provided for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal or investment advice.
About BitMart
BitMart is a leading global digital asset trading platform with over 13 million users worldwide. Consistently ranked among the best crypto exchanges on CoinGecko, BitMart offers over 1,700 trading pairs with competitive fees. Committed to continued innovation and financial inclusion, BitMart enables users around the world to trade seamlessly. Get started with BitMart here.
About Dunes
Dune is the data platform that makes blockchain data available. Extensive coverage, select verticals and multiple delivery methods (Dune app, API, data sharing) designed to fit institutional workflows and use cases.
About RedStone
RedStone is the data layer for institutional DeFi, providing secure, low-latency price feeds for digital assets, RWA, stablecoins, LST, LRT and Bitcoin LST on 110+ chains. Trusted by over 200 customers, including Securitize, Morpho, Pendle, Spark, Ether.fi, Ethena, Lombard, Venus, and Compound, RedStone powers the lending, stablecoin, perpetual, and tokenized asset markets with custom pricing infrastructure designed for complex on-chain systems. RedStone is the leading oracle for tokenized products including BlackRock’s BUIDL, Apollo ACRED, and Hamilton Lane SCOPE.
About optimism
Optimism is a blockchain infrastructure provider that enables developers and businesses to launch scalable, secure, and customizable networks and applications. Its open source OP stack provides Ethereum-level security, near-zero transaction costs, and the flexibility to meet commercial and regulatory needs at scale. Optimism serves fintechs, payment providers, institutions and crypto companies that are creating the next generation of on-chain products.
Disclaimer:
The information provided is for informational purposes only and should not be considered a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial assets. All information is provided in good faith. However, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability or completeness of this information.
All crypto investments, including profits, are highly speculative in nature and carry significant risk of loss. Past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. The value of digital currencies may increase or decrease and there may be significant risk in buying, selling, holding or trading digital currencies. You should carefully consider whether trading or holding digital currencies is right for you based on your personal investment goals, financial situation, and risk tolerance. BitMart does not provide investment, legal or tax advice.
