Tokenized equities have become the fastest-growing category of real-world assets on public blockchains by holder count, even though they still account for a smaller share of total market value, according to a report from CoinShares and Token Terminal. Roughly $2.2 billion of equity exposure has now been tokenized on-chain — a substantial figure that nonetheless remains a fraction of a global equity market exceeding $100 trillion.

The rapid expansion points to improved accessibility for a broader range of investors, driven largely by lower minimum investment requirements.

What Tokenized Real-World Assets Are

A tokenized real-world asset is a claim on a conventional asset — such as a Treasury fund or a share — issued as a transferable token on a public blockchain. Once issued, such tokens can be posted as collateral, traded against other assets, or used to gain leveraged exposure without directly engaging the issuer. The CoinShares and Token Terminal report notes that while issuance is straightforward, the true test lies in how these tokenized assets are actually used.

Deposit data highlights a clear divergence between crypto-native and real-world asset activity. Between the second quarter of 2025 and the second quarter of 2026, total cryptocurrency asset deposits fell by approximately 15%, a decline reflecting both withdrawals and lower crypto asset prices. Over the same period, real-world asset deposits across lending platforms and decentralized exchanges rose from $2.3 billion to $7.4 billion.

A similar pattern emerged on spot decentralized exchanges, where aggregate volumes — predominantly crypto-native — dropped by about 70%. Real-world asset spot volumes, in contrast, grew by roughly 220%, albeit from a smaller base. That divergence is central to why the findings matter: they document on-chain activity expanding in tokenized traditional assets during a period when crypto-native deposits and spot trading volumes both contracted.

Growth Drivers and Investor Behavior

Tokenized equities lead the growth in holder count, having surpassed institutional products over the past year. The expansion is driven primarily by improved access, as lower minimum investment sizes attract a wider investor base. Even with capital per holder remaining modest, the holder base is expanding significantly.

The average wallet balance — calculated by dividing under management by on-chain holders — reveals a clear distinction between segments. Products issued through xStocks show balances indicative of broad retail participation, while BlackRock's BUIDL shows average balances in the tens of millions of dollars. Although wallets do not perfectly equate to individuals, the substantial gap offers informative insights. Taken together, the figures point to two adoption tracks developing in parallel: a broad, retail-sized holder base on one side and a small number of large institutional allocations on the other.

Institutional capital, meanwhile, is concentrating in collateral that generates yield. Current on-chain yields range from approximately 3.2% to 5.5%. Tokenized Treasury funds sit at the lower end of that spectrum, while private credit, lending markets, vaults, and funding rate strategies offer progressively higher returns. Investors are prioritizing yield-bearing assets that continue to earn while supporting borrowing, which explains the clustering of deposits on established platforms such as Aave, Morpho, and Kamino. Approximately 70% of real-world asset deposits are situated on lending venues built on Ethereum — a concentration that gives the segment a clear center of gravity in on-chain markets.

Revenue and Future Outlook

Platforms facilitating this activity are not yet fully capturing its value. Application revenues have declined year-on-year for both lending and trading services, as real-world asset activity remains comparatively small against crypto-native markets.

Hyperliquid stands out, generating significantly more application revenue than other venues. That is partly attributed to derivatives economics, where high trading frequency translates into recurring fees. Hyperliquid operates at both the application and settlement layers rather than relying on a third-party chain. Morpho, the second-largest lending platform, currently operates without a protocol-level take rate.

Trading venues also exhibit the highest revenue multiples within their peer group on a fully diluted market capitalization basis. That valuation reflects capital velocity and operating leverage, similar to the logic applied to exchange businesses in public equities.

The report draws a parallel between today's tokenized stocks and USD stablecoins in 2019. Both are currently small relative to their addressable markets, experiencing rapid growth, and dependent on developing infrastructure. According to the report, the comparison signifies a developmental stage rather than a predetermined outcome. Stablecoins themselves moved from a niche instrument in 2019 to widely used settlement infrastructure across crypto markets, which is why the report treats the analogy as a reference point rather than a projection. A key difference from 2019 is the availability of on-chain, auditable data, which allows advisors to track trends directly — a notable shift for a segment whose usage has so far outpaced the revenues platforms earn from it.

The full report provides granular, venue-level data on deposits, volumes, yields, and revenues across major lending platforms and exchanges — giving readers concrete markers to follow, including whether application revenues recover as real-world asset usage scales, whether Morpho introduces a take rate, and whether deposit concentration on Ethereum lending venues persists.

Source: Blocktelegraph