Tokenized credit is positioned as the asset class that could drive RWAs from early adoption to mainstream, with $8B in TVL already deployed and potential to democratize access to historically gated investment opportunities.
DeFi & Yields ·
Tokenized credit has emerged as the asset class most likely to propel real-world assets from niche adoption to mainstream use, according to recent analysis. The segment currently holds $8 billion in total value locked, making it the second-largest RWA category by TVL behind US Treasuries, and commands 41 percent of all RWA value actively deployed in decentralized finance. Across Ethereum, Solana, and Avalanche, the sector attracts 145,000 holders, positioning it second only to tokenized stocks in this metric.
The appeal lies in dual benefits: businesses gain access to cheaper and faster capital while investors can participate in traditionally closed investment categories. Eligible use cases span trade finance, infrastructure projects like mines and solar installations, corporate lending, litigation funding, and payments finance—all structured with improved transparency and potential for higher single or double-digit returns. Projects including Huma Finance, Figure Technologies, Centrifuge, and Maple Finance are building different implementations of this model.
Significant obstacles remain unresolved, however. Pricing mechanisms for credit, management of duration mismatches, secondary market liquidity, and functioning price discovery mechanisms all require further development before the asset class achieves broader institutional and retail adoption. The scale of the opportunity suggests these technical and market-design challenges may drive substantial innovation in coming years.