BitMart releases RWA Report showing $24.6 bn on‑chain growth

BitMart published its second State of Real‑World Assets report on May 20, 2026, highlighting that on‑chain tokenized assets have jumped from roughly $6 bn in early 2025 to $24.6 bn by April 2026—a near‑fivefold surge [1]. The study, co‑authored with Dune, RedStone and Optimism, argues that regulatory frameworks such as the GENIUS Act, MiCA and Hong Kong’s Stablecoin Ordinance have finally aligned, but the real obstacle now is infrastructure: custody standards, cross‑chain liquidity and enforceable reporting remain under‑developed [2].

The report breaks down why institutional money is still lagging. Although about $27 bn of tokenized RWAs exist on‑chain, only roughly 10 % is being used as DeFi collateral; the remaining 90 % sits in wallets as yield‑bearing balances that are productive but not composable [1]. This mismatch, the authors say, is not a regulatory or demand issue but a gap in the operational stack. Custody solutions that meet institutional risk controls are still scarce, and existing settlement layers cannot handle the longer‑duration assets—like 90‑day Treasuries or trade‑finance receivables—without bespoke infrastructure [2].

Concrete examples illustrate the upside of closing those gaps. BlackRock’s BUIDL fund grew to $2.4 bn in assets under management, a 12‑fold increase in under two years, showing how brand trust, compliant custody and DeFi integration can unlock scale [1]. Tokenized private credit, offering 8‑12 % annualized yields, now dominates DeFi lending deposits despite representing a small slice of total tokenized AUM. Moreover, the report estimates that a modest 5 % allocation to tokenized RWAs by the global high‑net‑worth (HNW) and ultra‑high‑net‑worth (UHNW) population would translate to a market size over 160 times the current total—making it the single largest untapped opportunity in the space [1].

BitMart positions itself as a bridge between compliance and retail accessibility, serving clients in more than 180 countries and building the infrastructure needed for the next generation of digital asset markets. By partnering with data and oracle providers, the firm aims to track progress where “real‑world execution” meets “regulatory permission” [1].

If the infrastructure challenges are resolved, institutional capital could flow at a scale that dwarfs today’s tokenized RWA market, reshaping how high‑net‑worth investors access real‑world assets on‑chain. The open question remains: which players will deliver the custody, liquidity and legal frameworks first, and how quickly will that unlock the $90 trillion HNW opportunity?