The downward trend in the cryptocurrency market continues today. The total market capitalization has decreased by 3.17% in the last month due to ongoing selling pressure. However, one sector has broken this trend. These are tokenized real-world assets (RWA).
The value of distributed assets continues to grow. The sector has reached a new all-time high despite unfavorable market conditions.
The cryptocurrency market is bleeding, while the RWA sector remains largely unchanged.
According to RWA.xyz data, this sector currently holds 19.06 billion USD in distributed assets. This is an increase of 4.59% over the last month.
At the same time, the total value of represented assets is $414.6 billion. This result is mainly due to Canton Network, managing $395.2 billion in institutional assets.
The number of asset holders has also increased by 7.23% to 583821 people. Stablecoins continue to dominate this sector with a total value of $299.17 billion and 212.54 million holders. This is an increase of 4.12% in the same period.
Meanwhile, Kevin Rusher, founder of RAAC (the RWA lending and borrowing ecosystem), emphasized that the cryptocurrency market's attention is still mainly focused on the price of Bitcoin, which continues to fall. According to him, recent events show that selling pressure may continue. Rusher told BeInCrypto:
"As usual, most of the attention in the crypto sector is focused on the price of Bitcoin, which is continuously sliding from 2025 as if it were glued to a sled... Yesterday's news that Strategy halted BTC purchases and moved over $700 million to cash indicates that this selling is likely to continue. Inflows to Bitcoin have significantly decreased this year compared to last year – $27.2 billion versus $41.6 billion in 2024."
Cryptocurrency market: Tokenized gold emerges as a key growth factor
Despite this weakness, Rusher emphasizes that selling pressure has not affected tokenized RWAs. He points out that this segment remains overlooked by most of the cryptocurrency market, even though some of the strongest returns this year are emerging here.
The growth is partly driven by the global increase in demand for gold. In addition, this metal is reaching new record values. Particularly dynamic increases concern tokenized versions of gold. Rusher added:
"Tokenized gold has increased by 227% – from $1 billion to over $3.27 billion since the beginning of the year. The RWA commodity sector is one of the leaders in growth this year. The year 2025 started with four gold-based products and ends with 15 products that now include not only gold but also oil, wheat, platinum, soybeans, and others."
Additionally, Shehram Khattak, the chief lawyer of Trust Wallet, notes that tokenized gold could become a serious rival to Bitcoin. Khattak shared:
"We are at a moment when we are starting to think about real assets and their tokenization. If gold is appropriately tokenized, it makes a huge difference. Bitcoin today serves strongly as a store of value. If that's the case, tokenized gold could become a very serious competitor to Bitcoin."
At the same time, according to Rusher, the sector's expansion is driven not only by growing institutional demand but also by the increasing participation of retail investors. He notes that retailers are choosing stable on-chain assets instead of completely leaving the cryptocurrency market during periods of increased volatility. The RAAC founder explained:
"A very volatile year has really shaped the sector and made it a resilient and fertile growth space. This is a very good indication for the growth of the entire crypto market, as RWAs will provide a strong foundation, keeping liquidity in crypto even in tough times. RWAs are absolutely the future of cryptocurrencies and deserve much more attention."
The tokenization market could reach $100 billion by 2026.
Looking ahead, Jesse Knutson – head of operations at Bitfinex Securities – predicts that the tokenization market will grow to at least $100 billion by the end of 2026.
It is also expected that tokenized debt products will remain a dominant part of the market in the near future. Meanwhile, tokenized equities will gradually increase their share of total assets.
Knutson adds that further tokenization of equities is likely to attract more retail investors. This will allow for the expansion and deepening of the investor base for tokenized assets. The expert mentioned for BeInCrypto:
"Tokenization can open regulated access to investments such as microloan bonds, dispute financing products, or contracts for Bitcoin computing power. These instruments are unavailable in traditional markets. We expect this trend to continue until 2026, with new alternative assets, innovative debt products secured by Bitcoin mines, and tokenized ETFs."
Previously, Plume CEO Chris Yin also forecasted growth of 10-20 times in both value and user numbers by 2026, even with conservative assumptions. As such, as the RWA space continues to develop in the cryptocurrency market, its performance in 2026 may be a key trend to watch.
To read the latest cryptocurrency market analysis from BeInCrypto, click here.
