RWA market has grown to $31B in active onchain capital, but only 13.9% deployed in DeFi, with lending protocols capturing majority share while perp derivatives reach $20B open interest.
DeFi & Yields ·
Real-world assets tokenized onchain have reached $31.16 billion in active assets under management, yet only $4.33 billion—roughly 13.9%—has been deployed into DeFi protocols. This divergence between tokenization volume and actual capital deployment reflects an emerging dynamic in how RWA markets are developing. The deployed capital itself remains highly concentrated, with five protocols capturing 54% of the total: Morpho Blue holds $768.1 million, followed by Kamino Lend at $423.1 million, Aave V3 at $417.2 million, Grove Finance at $394.7 million, and Pendle Finance V2 at $351.5 million.
Lending and yield protocols are capturing the majority of RWA activity routed through DeFi, a pattern that reflects institutional and holder preferences for generating returns on tokenized assets beyond simple custody. In contrast, the derivatives market has grown substantially faster: RWA perpetuals open interest has reached nearly $20 billion and daily trading volume sits near $47.5 billion—approximately 4.6 times the capital deployed in RWA DeFi. Perpetual futures measure outstanding leveraged exposure rather than deposited capital, making direct comparison imprecise, yet the gap highlights where market participants have concentrated their initial activity.
Over $26 billion in active RWA capital remains outside DeFi deployment figures, with varying degrees of transferability and DeFi eligibility. The unresolved question centers on protocol capacity: as tokenized asset supply continues to grow, which platforms will succeed in converting that liquidity into sustained borrowing, collateral usage, and yield generation activity across DeFi applications.