COMBINABLE RISE OF RWA
Original translation:The chain community
Executive summary and guide:
Of the current approximately $27 billion RWA AUM, about $2.7 billion has entered the lending market and has been used as collateral, revenue strategies or levers. DeFi did not use the largest national debt, but more positive-yielding credit class assets, especially Maple, Aave, Morpho, Kamino and reinsurance. Designs that are open, integrated and distributed across chains are becoming the core engine of RWA proliferation。
COMBINABLE RISE OF RWA
$27 billionTHE TOKENIZATION OF RWA, BUT ONLY ABOUT$2.7 billionThey are actually deposited in the market for decentralised lending - as collateral, into the vault, or for profit strategies. It grew rapidly from almost zero within a year. This paper will explore where this capital flows, what drives it, and what it portends。
Background: From regulatory clarity to portfolio capital
Three regulatory milestones in late 2025 and early 2026 accelerated the monetization process。
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In July 2025, the GENIUS Act established the first comprehensive framework in the United States for the payment of stable currencies, requiring 1:1 reserve support and clear regulation。
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IN MARCH 2026, SEC AND CFTC JOINTLY CLASSIFIED MAJOR BLOCK CHAINS AS DIGITAL COMMODITIES RATHER THAN SECURITIES。
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A FEW DAYS LATER, THE SEC AUTHORIZED NASDAQ TO TRADE AND SETTLE TOKENIZED SHARES AND ETFS IN ITS MAIN MARKET。
These milestones contributed to the accelerated trend that had already begun. Stabilized currency - the settlement layer of monetized assets - total supply breakthrough$330 billionIT HAS GROWN 12 TIMES SINCE 2020. DURING THE SAME PERIOD, THE NUMBER OF ACTIVE STABLE CURRENCIES INCREASED FROM 31 TO 215. THE MONETIZATION OF RWA SHOWS SIMILAR TRAJECTORIES, WITH AUM INCREASING 27 TIMES IN TWO YEARS, REACHING APPROXIMATELY$27 billionThis extends from a few categories to the seven categories we track in the overview dashboard, including reinsurance and equities。
In addition to the apparent AUM figures, the more critical question is how much of this capital really works inside DeFi. About$2.7 billionRWA tokens are actively deposited in the various DeFi lending markets - about $27 billion in currency in AUM10%I don't know. And this 10 percent was almost non-existent a year ago. Portfolio — that is, the ability of a monetized asset to be used as collateral, loaned and recycled on different agreements and chains into a revenue strategy — is arguably the most promising advantage of monetization。
Source:?utm source=share&utm mediam=copy&utm campaign=query
Note: We are counting RWA coins deposited or provided to loan agreements - only collateral and treasury supplies. We have excluded the amount borrowed and the amount of stabilization money provided as loan liquidity in order to focus on RWA assets that were actually put into DeFi operations. All data as of April 16, 2026。
Where's the $2.7 billion
Four platforms are distributed on Estherum, Solana and several L2。
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@Morpho (957 million USD)— 41 RWA assets listed on 10 chains without permission. Professional developers like Gauntlet and Steakhouse manage the treasury, allocate capital to these markets and build a structured leverage strategy over the monetization of real world assets。
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@aave (wider market) ($929 million)Maple's syrup tokens are distributed on Plasma, Base and Etheum. Institutional credit flows to the best lending economy without permission。
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@kamino ($587 million)- The largest lending agreement and RWA platform on Solana. PRIME $315 million (HELOC loan earnings), syrupusDC $161 million, Onyc $71 million (reinsurance), USCC $18 million and xStocks markets (seven monetized equities totalling $21 million)。
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Aave Horizon ($161 million)- Aave up to the agency, the RWA market that needs permission. There are 256 addresses, with an average holding stock of $1.5 million. USCC $105 million, USTB $46 million, VBIL $7 million, JAAA $3 million. Of that amount, $124 million was actively borrowed, representing a utilization rate of 77 per cent。
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@0xfluid ($109 million)— reUSD 94 million (reinsurance), gold 12 million and syrup 2 million. It's worth noting that Re Protocol's reUSD was carried as collateral and it didn't appear on any other platform。
It's not the same as being used
THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT DIVISION BETWEEN THE ASSETS LEADING TO THE MONETIZATION OF AUM AND THOSE ACTUALLY DEPOSITED AS COLLATERAL IN THE LENDING AGREEMENT. TWO RANKINGS ARE ALMOST REVERSE。
U.S. TREASURY DEBT TO AUM48.5%(US$ 13.2 billion)2%I DON'T KNOW. CREDIT CLASS ASSETS IN AUM17%It's about savings80%I DON'T KNOW. LARGE COMMODITIES ACCOUNT FOR 25.2 PER CENT OF AUM, BUT ALMOST 1 PER CENT。
Credit class assets predominated because the account could be accounted for. @maplefinance syrupusDC yields about6%, and T-Bills is about3.5%I don't know. When your collateral earns 6%, and you can borrow 3% of the stable currency, it creates a positive hedge. @gauntlet xyz is the basis for a clear circular strategy: mortgage RWA, borrow money, buy more. This is a designed, risk-controlled leverage - it also explains why credit class assets appear on all major borrowing platforms: $957 million on Morpho, $929 million on Aave and $476 million on Kamino。
In addition to the existing categories, reinsurance is becoming a truly new portfolio class. @reProtocol's reUSD appears on several platforms - $96 million on Morpho (including $50 million on Pendle PT-reUD) and $94 million on Fluid - while @onrefinance's Oyc accounts for $71 million on Kamino. Taken together, reinsurance corresponded to $324 million in monetization AUM (1.2 per cent of the total) and approximately $261 million in DeFi deposits (10 per cent of the total), and about 80 per cent of the decorative reinsurance was actively deposited into the lending agreement, which is currently the highest deposit rate in all asset classes。
Currencyized shares are also entering DeFi: SPYx (US$ 7.9 million on Morpho), @BackedFi's xSstocks on Kamino (US$ 3.6 million) and deSPXA (US$ 3.6 million). Although the amount is small, the infrastructure is in place and lending around stocks has begun to occur。
THIS DIVISION IS INSTRUCTIVE. IT REWARDS SECURITY AND FAMILIARITY — UNITED STATES TREASURY DEBT IS EASY TO UNDERSTAND, EASY TO REGULATE, TRANSPARENT (NAV UPDATES ARE FREQUENT AND PREDICTIVELY SIMPLE) AND ATTRACTIVE TO INSTITUTIONAL BALANCE SHEETS. PORTFOLIO REWARDS ANOTHER SET OF LOGIC: YIELD SPREADS AND LEVERAGE ECONOMY。
The collateral portfolio is changing in real time
The dominant position of high-yield credit class assets may be partly a matter of time. Aave Horizon provides the clearest evidence。
When Horizon went online in August 2025, USCC -- @SuperstateInc. 'Crypto Carry Fund -- provided an agreement with its base trade on encrypted futures15%ASY. This revenue makes it 93% of all RWA collateral. T-Bill products are online, but almost no one cares。
SINCE THEN, THE USCC RATE OF RETURN HAS SHRUNK TO ABOUT4%, with 3 to 4% T-Bill rate of return. As a result, USCC's mortgage share dropped from 93 per cent to about 67 per cent, while the USB jumped from less than $1 million to $45.6 million in 30 days — an increase570%I don't know. As the income gap narrowed, markets were diversifying。
It's not only important for Horizon. If credit yields continue to shrink across markets — often in mature markets — the portfolio of collateral on all platforms is likely to become more diversified. The first wave of dominant assets (high-yielding credit) will not necessarily continue to dominate the next wave. Factors such as risk characteristics, regulatory acceptance and clearing mechanisms will begin to become more important。
@pendle fi added another dimension to this evolution. Its principal tokens (PTs), a token that allows users to lock fixed earnings from RWA products, represents $58 million in the Morpho deposit. Pendle also provides a direct RWA market for thBILL and mTBIL, and integrates yield curve transactions into a portfolio. As more RWA products are online in Pendle, the fixed interest rate strategy will be another channel for RWA distribution。
Access without permission facilitated distribution
Maple Syrup is the clearest case. SyrupUSDC and syrupUSDT are non-licensed ERC-20 tokens - technically, they are between the stabilizer and the RWA because they are at 1:1 anchor with USDC/USDT, but the proceeds come from institutional credit. We classify them as RWA, because their bottom-up exposure is real-world borrowing. Any person may forge, trade or deposit in any loan agreement. There is no need for KYC, no white lists, no cooperation。
Result: @Plasma98 per cent@base99%The syrupusDC was actively deployed to Aave. A Morpho developer like Gauntlet built a leveraged treasury independently without having to coordinate with Maple. The size of syrupusDC in Kamino (Solana) also reached $161 million。
Every new integration adds a point; it attracts capital, which in turn justifies more integration. It is this flying wheel effect that naturally spreads $929 million over three chains。
this is important because distribution is a recognized primary challenge for the industry. @centrifugeTokenization Outlook 2026According to the report, 86 per cent of operators felt that expanding distribution for existing products was more important than launching new products. Maple's case in Aave shows that a combination without a permit is itself a distribution channel。
Frontline: $1.85 billion monetized and $13 million commingled
Centrifuge shows the opportunity and the gap between RWA. It's one of the largest monetization platforms, and now its institutional product AUM is close$2 billionJTRSY (United States Treasury Debt Fund) is US$ 15.22 billion, JAAAAA (A Currencyization AAA level CLO Fund) is US$ 403 million, ACRDX (Apollo Diversity Credit Fund) is US$ 52 million, and the recently launched SPXA (First Currencyization Standard 500 Index Fund) is US$ 3.7 million. However, only about that$13 millionPortable in DeFi。
This gap is due to timing and design. The deRWA packaging was not licensed, but it did not go online until September 2025. On the other hand, the licensed design of other mature products slows down the integration rhythm. Liquidity remains low。
But integration is accelerating. Resolv committed to deploying $100 million JAAA on Horizon. Falcon Finance uses JAAA and JTRSY as collateral for USDf. Grove is deploying $250 million on Avalanche. LayerZero supports distribution across 165+. And deSPXA, the DeFi packaging version of the Centrifuge ' s Top 500 Fund, has reached $3.6 million in TVL and $7.9 million in DEX transactions, demonstrating early natural activity and the potential of the deRWA path: unlicensed packagings run in parallel with agency-oriented licensed products。
Three points
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Growth rates are more important than the current scale。DeFi has $2.7 billion in RWA deposits in the lending market - about 10 per cent of $27 billion in token AUM. But this $2.7 billion was almost non-existent a year ago. The absolute figures are still small, but more important is the rate of growth。
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It's not the same as being used。U.S. Treasury debt accounts for 48.5 per cent of the monetized AUM, but only 2 per cent of DeFi deposits. Credit class assets account for 17 per cent of AUM and 80 per cent of deposits. Higher returns create a positive arbitrage that supports the leverage cycle -- more than 6% of the credit returns are viable, and 3.5% of the national debt returns are not. However, as the macro-environment changes, as well as the spread of gains between different asset classes, the composition of the collateral will be adjusted and new assets and emerging classes (e.g. reinsurance) will emerge。
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Unlicensed visits facilitated distribution。Maple's syrup token, a mixture between RWA and stabilization currency, has been larger than $1 billion in the four chains of Aave and Kamino. This token was designed from the outset for a combination, so the market naturally combined it. Assets that are easily accessible are available for adoption more quickly. Assets requiring white lists are also being pursued, but at a slower pace。
All data cited here are available free of charge on Dune. You can start with RWA Overview, which divides AUM by category, or go into the dashboards of each platform: Morpho RWA, Aave Horizon, Maple on Aave, Centrifuge, Kamino RWA TVL. Data as of April 16, 2026。
