The buzz around real-world asset (RWA) tokenization promised to drag trillions in traditional finance onto the blockchain, but a harsh reality check from analysts shows it’s bleeding money instead. Fragmentation across blockchains is costing the sector up to $1.3 billion every year, with identical assets trading at wildly different prices and cross-chain moves eating into profits. As the market eyes explosive growth to $16-30 trillion by 2030, these inefficiencies could balloon losses to $75 billion annually if left unchecked.
Siloed blockchains and stalled liquidity
Picture this: the same tokenized Treasury bond or real estate slice sells for a 1-3 percent premium on Ethereum versus Polygon, yet no one’s rushing to arbitrage it away. High fees, slippage, delays, and operational headaches make shifting capital between chains a loser’s game—often wiping out 2-5 percent of the transaction value right off the bat. RWA.io’s bombshell report nails it: this splintering kills the free flow of money, turning what should be a seamless global market into a patchwork of isolated ponds.
Marco Widrich, co-founder and COO at RWA.io, cuts straight to the chase. “This fragmentation is the biggest obstacle to realizing the multi-trillion-dollar potential,” he told analysts, drawing a sharp contrast to TradFi’s SEPA Instant system, where euros zip between accounts in seconds. Without that kind of frictionless movement, tokenized assets can’t compete, and capital stays trapped. Ethereum dominates with 52 percent of RWA value, while Polygon corners 62 percent of tokenized bonds—yet liquidity doesn’t follow suit.
Right now, the total RWA market cap hovers around $358 billion, spanning 395 projects with asset tokens, project tokens, and stablecoins all lumped in. Platforms like RWA.xyz and RWA.io track this chaos, showing how institutional players and startups alike struggle across networks like Avalanche, Stellar, Hedera, and Ondo Finance. Ondo Finance, for instance, bridges real-world yields into crypto and fiat worlds, but even leaders can’t escape the silos.
Scale of the losses: From millions to billions
Crunch the numbers, and it stings. At current volumes, fragmentation siphons $600 million to $1.3 billion yearly—pure value destruction from unviable arbitrage and transfer costs averaging 3.5 percent per shift. That’s not pocket change; it’s enough to fund entire DeFi protocols or buy a fleet of private jets for Wall Street execs.
Fast-forward to 2030, and projections turn grim. Skynet Labs pegs the RWA market at $16 trillion minimum, with U.S. Treasuries alone hitting $4.2 billion tokenized by the end of this year. If silos persist, those 1-3 percent spreads and 2-5 percent transfer hits could devour $30-75 billion annually. Regulators in Hong Kong, Singapore, and the U.S. are greasing the wheels for more institutional cash, but without interoperability, it’s pouring water into a leaky bucket.
Take a real example: tokenized bonds. On Polygon, they thrive due to low costs, but Ethereum’s dominance in overall RWA TVL (total value locked) creates pricing distortions. Investors eyeing Chromia or Stellar for their RWA-friendly designs still face the same headache—your yield on one chain doesn’t match another’s without painful bridges. RWA.xyz data underscores this, mapping institutional activity across assets like real estate, commodities, and credit, all fragmented by network choice.
Read more: Crypto industry reports $3.4 billion in thefts in 2025
Big players weigh in
Over at Sibos 2025 in Frankfurt, Swift dropped jaws by unveiling plans for a shared blockchain ledger to knit tokenized assets together. Serving 11,500 institutions in 200+ countries, Swift sees fragmentation as the enemy of scale. “We’re working with 30+ banks globally to prototype this,” announced execs, blending TradFi rails with DeFi pipes via Chainlink oracles for cross-network magic.
Thierry Chilosi from Swift hammered it home: “To unlock scale, we need to work together.” Their ledger aims to let tokenized value hop platforms effortlessly, boosting trade, payments, and growth. It’s not pie-in-the-sky—pilots already connect blockchains, jurisdictions, and legacy systems. Imagine SEPA but for RWAs: instant, cheap, global. Hong Kong and Singapore’s regulatory nods could accelerate this, drawing in the institutional hordes eyeing tokenization.
Yet skeptics wonder if Swift’s TradFi DNA will clash with DeFi’s wild side. Chainlink’s role as oracle kingpin helps, feeding real-world data to make it tick. Still, with tokenization shifting from pilots to prime time, Swift’s move feels like a lifeline for a market choking on its own complexity.
DTCC joins the fray: Tokenizing treasuries on canton
Not to be outdone, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC)—handler of trillions in post-trade settlement—inked a deal with Digital Asset and the Canton Network. They’re minting U.S. Treasury securities on Canton’s Layer-1 blockchain, starting small but eyeing DTC-custodied assets broadly.
Frank La Salla, DTCC’s CEO, calls it a “strategic step” to bridge TradFi and digital worlds with scalability and safety intact. DTCC takes co-chair at the Canton Foundation alongside Euroclear, pushing collateral mobility and DLT ecosystems. Phase one lets participants toggle assets between book-entry and tokenized forms, all regulated and secure.
This builds on DTCC’s experiments, tokenizing high-value stuff like Treasuries to test real-world use. Canton Network’s privacy-focused design shines here—assets move without exposing everything, a boon for banks wary of full public chains. But does it solve fragmentation? It links silos selectively, yet multi-year rollout means the $1.3 billion bleed continues.
Prominent RWAs and blockchains fueling boom
Despite the mess, RWA projects proliferate. Avalanche custom-builds chains for tokenization, Stellar offers cheap, fast asset issuance, and Hedera scales for enterprise RWAs. Ondo Finance diversifies yields, Chromia powers relational blockchain apps for complex assets.
Ethereum’s 52 percent grip holds firm, but Polygon’s bond dominance shows specialization winning. RWA.io lists 350 asset tokens worth $358 billion, plus project and stablecoin variants—real estate deeds, carbon credits, private equity slices all on-chain. Startups via RWA.xyz draw issuers seeking institutional eyes.
U.S. Treasuries lead short-term, with $4.2 billion tokenized soon. Commodities like oil and gold follow, tying into Middle East energy plays where geopolitics amps volatility. Think Saudi Aramco bonds or Dubai real estate—prime for tokenization if chains unite.
Why fragmentation hits harder than you think
Liquidity isn’t just nice-to-have; it’s oxygen for markets, according to analysts. Without it, prices diverge, risks spike, and institutions balk. Transfer losses compound: a $100 million shift costs $2-5 million, killing trades. Operational risks—hacks, downtime—pile on, echoing bridge exploits past.
In TradFi, clearinghouses like DTCC fix this overnight. Crypto? Bridges like Wormhole or LayerZero try, but 2-5 percent tolls persist. AI tools on RWA.io speed analysis, spotting arb ops that vanish before execution. Geopolitics adds fuel: U.S.-China tensions could splinter chains further, hiking costs in trade-heavy regions like the Middle East.
Paths forward: Interoperability or bust?
Solutions simmer. Swift’s ledger and Canton’s privacy layer lead, but full fixes need standards. Canton co-chairs like DTCC and Euroclear push unified governance. Chainlink oracles bridge data gaps, while projects like Ondo build yield aggregators.
Regulators matter too. U.S. clarity post-reelection could flood Treasuries on-chain; Europe’s MiCA eyes interoperability mandates. RWA.xyz APIs empower platforms to track unified metrics, nudging issuers toward compatible chains.
Optimists see $16 trillion by 2030 if cracks seal—think 24/7 global markets, fractional ownership for retail. Pessimists warn persistence locks in $75 billion losses, stunting growth. Middle ground: hybrid models where Swift/DTCC overlays tame the wild.
Tokenization’s promise—democratizing assets—falters without unity. Retail investors grab real estate fractions on Stellar, institutions park in Ondo yields, but premiums erode gains. Energy markets, hot in the Middle East, suffer: tokenized oil futures fragment, missing arb on OPEC moves.
Globally, this slows adoption. Banks test pilots; scaling needs Swift-scale plumbing. DeFi evolves too—protocols like Aave integrate RWAs, but cross-chain limits TVL.
Road to $30 trillion: Fix it or flop
RWA.io’s report isn’t doom-saying; it’s a wake-up. With $358 billion live today, momentum builds via leaders like Avalanche and Hedera. Swift and DTCC signal TradFi’s buy-in, but execution’s key.
By 2030, winners unify—via ledgers, standards, or dominance (Ethereum?). Losers? Siloed chains fading as costs mount. Investors, watch interoperability bets; the $1.3 billion fix could mint fortunes. For now, the market fragments on, hemorrhaging value one stalled trade at a time.
