Tokenized asset market grows to $36.82B as holder count sets monthly record
DeFi & Yields ·
Real-world asset holders rose by 420,000 in a single month, the largest net addition on record, even as stablecoin settlement volume kept falling.
The tokenized real-world asset (RWA) market capitalization reached $36.82B for the week of July 24–31, 2026, up 2.43%, according to a weekly RWA summary. Holder count climbed to 1.447 million, a 40.81% month-over-month increase driven by the record 420,000 net addition. At the same time, stablecoin transaction volume fell 29.29% month-over-month, marking a second consecutive month of steep decline, a divergence the same summary describes as holder growth accelerating while settlement demand contracts.
Institutional infrastructure work continued alongside the market moves. The Bank for International Settlements' Project Agorá ran a real cross-border settlement test moving $1M across 6 currencies in roughly 80 seconds, according to the same summary. Separately, ten European banks — including ING, DZ Bank and Standard Chartered — formed a blockchain cooperative called RL1, and BNY is migrating transfer agent records covering $8.6T in assets onto blockchain rails, per the summary.
Tokenization activity is also extending beyond financial instruments. Brazilian farmers used tokenized dairy cows as collateral to access $20K in credit, with smart collars deployed to prevent double-pledging of the same animals, the report notes.
Despite the headline growth, the same data points to limited on-chain activity: roughly 90% of RWA assets remain dormant, and DeFi utilization sits under 3% for most issuers, according to the weekly breakdown. A separate account within the cluster puts on-chain RWA value at $32.2B with RWA tokens posting a +10% median return in July, outperforming other crypto narratives, though the relationship between that figure and the $36.82B market cap cited elsewhere is not detailed.
What remains unclear is whether the record holder growth reflects durable retail or institutional adoption or short-term positioning, and whether the continuing decline in stablecoin settlement volume signals a structural shift away from stablecoins toward direct RWA holdings. The gap between rising participation and low DeFi utilization — with most assets still dormant — also raises questions about how quickly institutional pilots like Project Agorá and BNY's transfer agent migration will translate into active on-chain usage.