In 2025, tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) emerged as one of the fastest-growing categories in the crypto industry. A recent report by RedStone examines the key drivers of this growth and its implications for financial markets.
Overview of Tokenized Real-World Assets
As of June 2025, tokenized real-world assets reached an estimated value of over $24 billion, up from $5-10 billion in 2022. The RWA market has become the second fastest-growing sector after stablecoins, which have shown even stronger performance.
Role of Private Credit in RWA Growth
According to Marcin Kaźmierczak, co-founder of RedStone, the primary driver behind RWA growth is private credit. This encompasses loans issued outside the traditional banking system, often made directly to private companies.
CITE_W_A: "Private credit has emerged as the foundation for tokenization’s real-world impact. What we’re seeing now is institutional finance actively moving into blockchain—not just exploring, but deploying capital in meaningful ways and innovating with RWA looping strategies."
Impact of Tokenized Assets on the Credit Market
Historically, private credit loans were highly illiquid, often subject to multi-year lockups. However, with RWAs, traders can sell these loans, significantly increasing their flexibility. These assets can also be packaged into institutional-grade private credit funds, like Apollo’s ACRED, making private credit more accessible to a broader range of investors.
RWAs allow these assets to be programmable and composable, enabling institutions to embed specific strategies, such as automatic interest distribution or triggered liquidations.
Tokenized real-world assets are starting to influence traditional financial mechanisms, revitalizing the private credit market and opening new opportunities for investors and institutional players.
