Key Takeaways
- • Roughly $2.2 billion of equity exposure has been tokenized on-chain, a small fraction of a global equity market exceeding $100 trillion, though tokenized equities are the fastest-growing category by holder count.
- • Real-world asset deposits across lending platforms and decentralized exchanges rose from $2.3 billion to $7.4 billion between Q2 2025 and Q2 2026, while total crypto asset deposits fell roughly 15% over the same period, according to a CoinShares and Token Terminal report.
- • Institutional capital is concentrating in yield-generating collateral, with on-chain yields ranging from about 3.2% to 5.5%; roughly 70% of real-world asset deposits sit on Ethereum-based lending venues.
- • Application revenues for lending and trading platforms declined year-on-year, indicating that platforms are not yet capturing the value of real-world asset activity.
- • The report compares tokenized stocks today to USD stablecoins in 2019, framing the current stage as developmental rather than predetermined.
Summary
The report defines a tokenized real-world asset as a claim on a conventional asset, such as a Treasury fund or a share, issued as a transferable token on a public blockchain. Such tokens can be posted as collateral, traded against other assets, or used for leveraged exposure without direct engagement with the issuer. The authors argue that issuance is straightforward and that the true test lies in usage. On that measure, the report finds a divergence between crypto-native and real-world asset activity: total crypto asset deposits fell about 15% between Q2 2025 and Q2 2026, reflecting both withdrawals and lower prices, while real-world asset deposits across lending platforms and decentralized exchanges rose from $2.3 billion to $7.4 billion. Aggregate spot decentralized exchange volumes, predominantly crypto-native, fell about 70%, while real-world asset spot volumes grew roughly 220% from a smaller base.
Wallet-level data show distinct investor segments. Products issued through xStocks show average balances consistent with broad retail participation, whereas BlackRock's BUIDL shows average balances in the tens of millions of dollars. The report calculates average balances by dividing assets under management by on-chain holders and cautions that wallets do not map perfectly to individuals. Institutional capital is concentrating in yield-bearing collateral, with on-chain yields of roughly 3.2% to 5.5%. Tokenized Treasury funds sit at the lower end, while private credit, lending markets, vaults and funding rate strategies offer progressively higher yields. Deposits cluster on platforms including Aave, Morpho and Kamino, and about 70% of real-world asset deposits are on lending venues built on Ethereum.
The report notes that platforms are not yet capturing the full value of this activity. Application revenues declined year-on-year for both lending and trading services. Hyperliquid generates significantly more application revenue than other venues, which the report partly attributes to derivatives economics, where high trading frequency produces recurring fees; Hyperliquid operates at both the application and settlement layers. Morpho, the second-largest lending platform, currently has no protocol-level take rate. Trading venues carry the highest revenue multiples in their peer group based on fully diluted market capitalization, a valuation the report links to capital velocity and operating leverage, similar to logic applied to exchanges in public equities.
The report draws a parallel between tokenized stocks today and USD stablecoins in 2019: both are small relative to their addressable markets, growing rapidly, and dependent on infrastructure still under development. The comparison is framed as a developmental stage rather than a predetermined outcome. The report highlights one key difference from 2019, the availability of on-chain, auditable data that allows advisors to track trends directly. The full report provides venue-level data on deposits, volumes, yields and revenues across major lending platforms and exchanges.
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