Tokenized RWAs Poised to Hit $2 Trillion by 2028

What happened

Tokenized real‐world assets (RWAs) are moving from pilots to production. The Canton Network (Digital Asset’s layer‐1 focused on compliance/privacy) raised US$135 million from TradFi and crypto investors — including Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, DTCC, Polychain Capital and Circle Ventures — to onboard “billions of real‐world assets.” Standard Chartered projects tokenized RWAs to grow from about US$35 billion today to US$2 trillion by end‐2028, with most activity expected on Ethereum. Separately, private credit tokenization drove a US$24 billion increase in H1 2025, signalling near‐term growth in credit‐based RWAs.

Why this matters

Market impact — institutional adoption and infrastructure buildout. Large capital commitments and participation from major banks and market utilities suggest tokenization is shifting from niche experiments to core market plumbing. If projections materialize (Standard Chartered’s $2 trillion forecast), tokenization could broaden access to illiquid assets (real estate, private credit), create new liquidity pools (tokenized MMFs, equities) and reshape custody/settlement processes at scale.

Key reasons this momentum is credible (from the article and cited sources):

• Institutional capital and strategic investors are funding networks that promise compliant issuance, custody and settlement.
• Regulatory clarity is improving (the article cites U.S. proposals like the GENIUS Act and the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, plus evolving frameworks in the EU, Singapore and UAE), which matters for institutional risk appetite.
• Early market signals: $24B private‐credit issuance in H1 2025 and platform builds (smart‐contract standards, identity/compliance tooling, custody integrations) lower technical and operational barriers.

Risks highlighted in the article include uneven regulation across jurisdictions, immature secondary liquidity for many asset classes, custody and reconciliation bottlenecks, and smart‐contract/tech vulnerabilities.

Sources

• Digital Asset raises US$135M for Canton Network (Ainvest): Digital Asset secures $135 million to accelerate real‐world asset tokenization
• Private credit drives $24B surge in tokenized RWAs (Ainvest): Private credit drives $24 billion surge in tokenized real‐world assets
• Standard Chartered forecast on tokenized RWAs (The Block): Standard Chartered sees $2T in tokenized RWAs by 2028, mostly on Ethereum
• Industry report on infrastructure and standards (Seaprwire/Firepans summary): Global financial transformation accelerates as tokenized RWAs gain institutional momentum

• Tokenized RWA market size (forecast) — $2T by end-2028, up from ~$35B today (+56×), indicating rapid institutional-scale adoption.
• Private credit tokenization issuance (H1 2025) — $24B increase, showing private credit as the primary near-term driver of RWA volumes.
• Digital Asset/Canton Network funding — $135M, enabling scale-up of compliant tokenization infrastructure.
• Projected tokenized money market funds (2028) — $750B, signaling a major shift of cash and liquidity products on-chain.
• Projected tokenized listed equities (2028) — $750B, indicating substantial migration of traditional equity exposures to tokenized rails.

• Regulatory fragmentation and compliance risk: uneven or evolving regimes for stablecoins and tokenized securities across the U.S., EU, Singapore, and UAE could slow institutional onboarding and jeopardize forecasts of ~US$2T RWAs by 2028, with KYC/AML, custody, and securities classification central to investment-grade adoption. Opportunity: Regtech, compliance middleware, and jurisdictional structuring providers can become critical infrastructure for banks and asset managers.

• Liquidity and market depth constraints: secondary markets remain immature—despite a US$24B surge in tokenized private credit in H1 2025—risking slippage, valuation opacity, and limited exits for less liquid asset classes versus tokenized MMFs and listed equities. Opportunity: Market-makers, ATS/MTF platforms, and liquidity-program designers that deliver transparent price discovery and reliable secondary trading can capture fees and spreads as volumes scale.

• Known unknown: platform dominance and interoperability trajectory: Standard Chartered expects the “vast majority” of activity on Ethereum by 2028, yet Canton just raised US$135M to onboard “billions” of assets, leaving uncertainty around network lock-in, cross-chain settlement, and integration costs for institutions. Opportunity: Multi-chain, compliance-aware interoperability layers and custody providers that abstract chain risk—and standards-aligned issuers (ERC-1400/3643)—can become neutral winners regardless of which network leads.

Supporters see the US$135 million backing of Canton by Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, and DTCC alongside Standard Chartered’s US$2 trillion-by-2028 forecast as proof that tokenized RWAs are moving from demo to default. They point to hard traction—private credit adding US$24 billion in H1 2025—and argue that compliant rails and identity-aware standards will carry bonds, equities, and cash-like instruments on-chain at scale, much of it on Ethereum. Skeptics counter that uneven regulation, thin secondary markets, and custody and settlement bottlenecks make onboarding “billions of real-world assets” easier to say than to settle. Technology risk still bites. And a sharp question lurks: if tokenization merely rebuilds walled gardens with better software, was the revolution only a UI upgrade? The article itself flags the uncertainties—regulatory risk remains high across many jurisdictions, liquidity is patchy beyond MMFs and listed equities, and even optimistic odds (80–85%) leave room for friction.

Here’s the twist: the most radical change may come from the most conservative assets. The path to scale runs through money market funds, listed equities, and private credit—not exotic new instruments—and the differentiator isn’t speed, it’s compliance that actually works. That reframes winners and timelines: expect permissioned infrastructure like Canton to interoperate with Ethereum rather than replace it; watch identity-linked wallets, ERC-1400/3643 uptake, custody integrations, and the rise of real secondary-market depth. Founders, asset managers, and compliance teams that treat regulation as product, not paperwork, will set the pace as rulemakings and partnerships land. When finance goes on-chain, the winning UX may be that you barely notice it.