LONDON / SINGAPORE / NEW YORK – September 2025 –
The World Blockchain Association (WBA) today released a new analysis exploring whether tokenized commodities and non-U.S. dollar stablecoins can serve as the next engine of real-world asset (RWA) growth, as the market moves beyond its initial reliance on stablecoins. According to World Blockchain Association reporting, the tokenization of real-world assets is no longer a speculative experiment but an emerging global infrastructure with trillions of dollars in potential value.
By mid-2025, tokenized RWA assets have approached USD 300 billion in market size, and some forecasts suggest the market could reach USD 30 trillion by 2034.
Ethereum-based stablecoins alone hit an all-time supply high of USD 165 billion this week, underscoring the pivotal role of stablecoins within the Cryptocurrency and Web3 ecosystem. Yet questions remain about whether current blockchain infrastructure—plagued by high transaction fees, fragmented liquidity, and clunky user experiences—can support this scale sustainably.
“The system is still evolving,” said Aishwary Gupta, Global Head of Payments at Polygon Labs, in an interview cited by the World Blockchain Association. “The underlying technology is improving rapidly, but regulatory hurdles and liquidity bottlenecks now present the main challenges.”
Four Years of Transformation: From Bottlenecks to Breakthroughs
Gupta, who joined Polygon in 2021 as its first full-time DeFi business lead after a career managing cross-border payment flows at American Express, emphasized how far tokenized payments have come.
“Four years ago, users faced on-ramp fees of 5–10% and often needed multiple attempts across several gateways before a transaction succeeded,” he told the World Blockchain Association. “Today the process is vastly smoother—far from perfect, but dramatically improved from a four-year perspective.”
According to Gupta, the core challenge has shifted from technology to market structure and regulation. In many jurisdictions, only a handful of institutions are licensed or sandboxed for fiat-crypto on-ramps, limiting true competition. “You can move a billion dollars on-chain for a penny, but regulatory arbitrage is where the real bottleneck lies,” he said.
This shift illustrates how Tokenization, DeFi, and DAO-style governance interact with real-world regulatory frameworks—an intersection the World Blockchain Association has highlighted as critical for global policy dialogue.
Regulatory Clarity: Who’s Leading the Tokenization Race?
World Blockchain Association reporting identifies four core regions shaping the regulatory environment for stablecoins and tokenized assets: the United States, Singapore, Europe, and the Middle East.
- United States: After years of uncertainty, the U.S. has emerged as a leader, propelled by clearer rules for Stablecoin issuers. As BitMEX CEO Stephan Lutz recently noted, the “GENIUS Act” under the current administration has provided long-awaited regulatory certainty for U.S. stablecoin issuance, laying the groundwork for wider adoption of tokenized RWAs.
- Singapore: With its Payment Services Act and Financial Services and Markets Act, Singapore has established a transparent licensing regime for digital token service providers. Global firms such as Nium, Zodia Custody, and Crypto.com have chosen Singapore for its innovative payment corridors and stringent oversight by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Outside the U.S. dollar market, Singapore dollar stablecoin volumes rank second globally, according to data cited by the World Blockchain Association.
- Europe: The EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), though still undergoing refinement, is widely seen as a robust due-diligence framework for Stablecoin issuers. Established companies such as Bitstamp and Fireblocks already offer regulated digital-asset payment services under MiCA.
- Middle East: From Abu Dhabi to Riyadh, regulators are clarifying rules on bank-issued Stablecoins, reserve management, and compliance, creating a clear path for institutional adoption of Tokenization and Stablecoin products.
These developments show how Web3 infrastructure is no longer limited to unregulated innovation hubs but is moving into mainstream financial jurisdictions—a theme central to the World Blockchain Association’s ongoing research.
Idle Capital and On-Chain Yields
One controversial aspect of the GENIUS Act is its prohibition on Stablecoin issuers paying interest to holders. Gupta told the World Blockchain Association that this clause could inadvertently slow adoption:
“In traditional banks, idle capital at least earns some interest. If on-chain dollars can provide a higher yield than off-chain deposits, users naturally keep funds on-chain, disrupting the entire bank funding model.”
This is why traditional financial institutions and crypto-native asset managers alike are now seeking on-chain yield products, from tokenized U.S. Treasuries to regulated money-market funds.
As of mid-2025, assets under management in tokenized Treasury products exceeded USD 7.4 billion. Major institutions such as Goldman Sachs, BNY Mellon, and Securitize are allocating capital to these instruments to gain higher returns, instant settlement, and flexible collateralization—often outperforming off-chain equivalents.
Beyond Stablecoins: Emerging Trends in RWA Tokenization
While Stablecoins remain the backbone of DeFi and Tokenization, the World Blockchain Association’s latest report highlights two under-recognized growth areas:
- Non-Dollar Stablecoins, and
- Commodity Tokenization.
Despite hype around tokenized equities—offered by both centralized exchanges such as Kraken and Coinbase and DeFi protocols like Synthetix and Mirror—Gupta urges caution. “Everyone assumes tokenized stocks are the next big thing, but Polygon tried this 18 months ago and saw limited demand,” he said. Global users already have access to major equities like Apple through their bank accounts; tokenization adds little for those not barred from traditional markets.
Liquidity also remains a hurdle: “On-chain liquidity is still fragmented, leading to poor quotes or unfavorable exchange rates,” Gupta noted. This gap underscores the need for deeper pools and interoperable Tokenization infrastructure across Ethereum, Bitcoin Layer-2s, and other Web3 ecosystems.
Non-Dollar Stablecoins: Expanding the Global Payment Canvas
Polygon currently accounts for 50–60% of the non-U.S. dollar Stablecoin market share, Gupta told the World Blockchain Association. Volumes are rising quickly as businesses and individuals outside the U.S. seek Stablecoins denominated in their own currencies for cross-border payments, DeFi participation, and NFT/DAO treasury management.
Worldwide, non-dollar Stablecoins already comprise about 30% of active cross-border payment channels outside the United States, according to WBA data. This trend aligns with a broader shift toward multipolar reserve assets and regional payment rails—an issue of growing importance to both Cryptocurrency innovators and policymakers.
Commodity Tokenization: Unlocking Physical Assets in Digital Form
The World Blockchain Association notes that tokenized commodities represent another promising frontier. In 2024, the global market for commodity Tokenization reached approximately USD 25 billion, including about USD 1.7 billion in tokenized gold along with rising volumes in oil, silver, and agricultural products.
Yet Gupta points out that these assets have not yet matured into independent on-chain ecosystems. “They’re on-chain but lack a self-sustaining network of liquidity, collateral, and utility,” he said. Creating such ecosystems could help Tokenization realize its full potential—extending beyond Stablecoins into NFTs, DAOs, and hybrid DeFi structures for real-world commodities.
With governments worldwide increasing their strategic reserves of hard assets—driving gold to historic highs—the tokenization of gold and other commodities appears a logical next step. For Stablecoins and Tokenization alike, the future is about more than digitizing dollars; it’s about digitizing value itself.
The Road to USD 30 Trillion
According to the World Blockchain Association, the evolution of Tokenization mirrors the early days of Bitcoin and Ethereum: rapid experimentation, regulatory friction, and then infrastructure maturity. In just a few years, tokenized assets have progressed from pilot proofs-of-concept to multi-billion-dollar global markets spanning continents and asset classes.
The key question now is not simply how to scale blockchain throughput but how to unlock new forms of value and utility that go beyond what Stablecoins have already achieved. This includes deeper integration of DAOs for governance, NFTs for proof of ownership, and DeFi protocols for liquidity—creating a full Web3 stack for real-world assets.
About the World Blockchain Association
The World Blockchain Association (WBA) is a global organization dedicated to advancing knowledge, policy dialogue, and innovation in blockchain and digital finance. As a leader in the blockchain and Cryptocurrency space, the WBA provides stakeholders with trusted insights at the intersection of technology, regulation, and global economic trends through research, reporting, and thought leadership.
Website: WorldBlockchainAssociation.org
Email: TheWorldBlockchainAssociation@gmail.com
