Investment bank Standard Chartered (STAN) says decentralized finance (DeFi) is emerging as a powerful alternative to traditional finance, which relies on centralized systems run by trusted authorities such as central banks.
The bank predicts that by the end of 2028, tokenized non-stable assets will reach a market capitalization of $2 trillion, up from $35 billion today, which is the expected size of the stablecoin market.
Tokenized money market funds and listed stocks could each account for about $750 billion, with funds, private equity, commodities, corporate debt and real estate making up the rest, the bank said in Thursday’s report.
DeFi, built on blockchain technology, removes the need for a central authority and instead operates on transparency, accessibility and code-based trust, wrote Geoff Kendrick, head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered.
According to Kendrick, the stablecoin boom in 2025 has accelerated DeFi’s shift from a crypto-native niche business to a mainstream financial force, enabling non-banks to handle payments and savings once dominated by traditional institutions.
The widespread use of stablecoins has increased awareness in developed markets and injected on-chain liquidity that further fuels DeFi innovation, particularly in lending and borrowing, the report said.
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies whose value is tied to another asset, such as the US dollar or gold. They play a major role in cryptocurrency markets, providing payment infrastructure, and are also used to transfer money internationally.
Kendrick argued that this liquidity and the growth of DeFi banking lays the foundation for an explosion in real-world tokenized assets (RWA).
Standard Chartered sees this as the start of a self-reinforcing cycle: liquidity creates new products, which in turn attract more liquidity. The main risk, the report notes, is that the United States fails to clarify its regulations before the 2026 midterm elections, although that is not its base case scenario.
Learn more: Wall Street Bank Citi Sees Stablecoins Powering Crypto’s Next Phase of Growth
