The volume of real-world assets actively utilized in DeFi is approaching the $4 billion mark. According to DefiLlama, this figure stands at $3.98 billion. A year ago, this amount was $650.88 million, and three years ago it was around $12 million. This represents a six-fold growth in twelve months and a staggering growth of over 300 times in three years.
Source: DefiLlama
The utility of this metric lies in what it does not count. DefiLlama includes tokenized assets in this list only if they are used on the blockchain. Collateral supplied in lending markets is counted. The same applies to liquidity in a DEX pool or deposits locked in a vault. Meanwhile, tokens in a wallet that simply generate yield from a fund are not counted.
The total volume of tokenized issuance in this sector is $34.55 billion. By calculation, this represents approximately 11.5% of the total circulating assets (RWA) that are used on-chain.
Tokenized Treasury Bonds Conduct Initial Offering First, Then Stagnate
In circulation is BlackRock's tokenized money market fund BUIDL worth $2.74 billion, of which around $18 million is utilized in DeFi. As of today, the utilization rate is 0.66%. Meanwhile, the utilization rate for Franklin Templeton's product ENJI is zero. Thus, the total circulating amount of tokenized money market assets exceeds $3 billion, and these assets are virtually not used in lending pools.
The structure of these funds explains the low on-chain utilization percentage. These funds were created for institutional cash management using permissioned transfers, with buyers holding them seeking Treasury bill yield, not leverage. Tokenization essentially significantly accelerated settlement but did not turn them into collateral.
Actual Movement of Collateral Occurs in Private Credit and Reinsurance
Private credit accounts for $2.13 billion of the total $3.98 billion volume, representing over half of the total. Bonds account for $799.88 million, and reinsurance accounts for another $406.45 million.
The Anemoy AAA CLO Fund from Janus Henderson is 97.53% utilized with an asset volume of $421.88 million. reUSD from Re Protocol is 97.03% utilized with an asset volume of $184.67 million. Maple's syrupUSDT is 91% utilized. Syrup USDG leads the entire ranking with a 153.37% utilization rate and a DeFi asset volume of $181.32 million, indicating the same token is being counted across multiple venues as it is supplied, borrowed, and deposited.
These are assets that will be evaluated and accepted by DeFi lenders. A CLO fund with a DeFi credit rating and a reinsurance token with an income stream fit into existing collateral systems in a way that a whitelisted Treasury bond fund does not.
Further down the list, smaller categories appear more experimental than structural. The active total volume for precious metals is $311.96 million, for public equities $150.5 million, and for stock indices $31.95 million. Oil accounts for $1.42 million. Natural gas accounts for $315 million.
The Utilization Rate is a Key Factor to Watch as Issuance Volumes Increase
For two years, headlines about security token offerings (STOs) have defined the coverage of the risk-weighted asset (RWA) market, and $34.55 billion is the real figure. Now the question is whether the next $34 billion will behave like BUIDL or like JAAA.
If issuance doubles and the utilization rate remains around 11.5%, tokenization will primarily provide better custody mechanisms for institutions that were already buying Treasuries. If the utilization rate grows alongside issuance, risk-weighted assets (RWA) will become functioning collateral in crypto lending markets, and the $4 billion mark will cease to be the ceiling it appears to be now.
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