Top Protocols Powering the RWA Revolution: A Deep Dive
- Harsim Ranjit Singh
- Apr 3
- 14 min read
April 3rd, 2025 | RWA | Crypto | By Harsim Ranjit Singh
Meet the Key Players: As real-world assets pour onto blockchain platforms, certain protocols and projects have emerged as leaders in this RWA revolution. These are the platforms that have successfully onboarded significant real-world asset value and built solutions at the intersection of TradFi and DeFi. Let’s deep dive into the top RWA protocols by total value locked (TVL) and examine what each brings to the table:
1. BlackRock’s Digital Private Markets (BUIDL Fund): It might surprise a purist to see BlackRock top a list of blockchain protocols, but BlackRock’s foray – often referred to by its ticker “BUIDL” – has quickly amassed the largest RWA footprint on-chain. BlackRock’s BUIDL is a tokenized money market fund that was introduced via Coinbase and Securitize in 2023. By early 2025 it had $1.64 billion in TVL, making it the single largest RWA project1. The BUIDL fund holds short-term U.S. Treasuries and other high-quality instruments (like a prime money market fund) and issues a token representing a share of the fund. What’s novel is that this token exists on public blockchains (initially Ethereum, and expanded to Solana), and can be integrated with DeFi protocols or held directly by investors in digital wallets. Essentially, BlackRock provided a way for stablecoin treasuries and institutional crypto investors to park cash in a yield-bearing traditional asset (a money market fund) with on-chain convenience. BUIDL tokens are fully backed and regulated – an investor has to pass KYC/AML via Securitize to get the tokens, which ensures compliance. Once they have the token, however, it behaves like a crypto asset they can transfer or potentially use as collateral. BUIDL’s rapid growth (surpassing $1B within months) underscores how hungry the crypto market was for safe, dollar-linked yield. In fact, BlackRock’s BUIDL led the RWA space by market cap in 20252, and the success has prompted BlackRock to explore tokenizing other products (like credit funds). The significance of BUIDL is also symbolic – the world’s largest asset manager validating DeFi rails for asset distribution.
2. MakerDAO (and its RWA Vaults): MakerDAO is a decentralized protocol, best known for issuing the DAI stablecoin, but it has become a powerhouse in RWAs by incorporating them as collateral. In terms of RWA exposure, Maker is the second-largest with around $1.29 billion in real-world assets locked (as of Q1 2025)1. Maker achieved this through its RWA vaults – specialized vaults where approved partner institutions borrow DAI by posting real-world assets. Notably, nearly 46% of DAI is now backed by RWAs including U.S. Treasury bonds, commercial paper, real estate-backed loans, and trade receivables1. Maker’s top RWA partners include New Silver (fix-and-flip real estate loans tokenized via Tinlake), 6S Capital (which issued real estate loans financed by Maker), and more recently Societe Generale Forge (which, as discussed, put bonds as collateral for DAI)3. The impact is that Maker’s revenue stream has diversified – in fact, RWA yields contributed roughly half of Maker’s earnings by late 20241 . The protocol did something clever with its stablecoin reserves: Instead of holding all in stablecoins that earned nothing, Maker began investing a chunk into short-term bonds via a mandate with BlackRock and others, pulling in yield to support DAI’s stability fees. From a governance perspective, Maker had to set up legal structures (like a Cayman trust) to interface with TradFi custodians. But they trailblazed a model for DAO-managed RWA investment. Maker’s importance in RWA is not just its dollar amount, but its pioneering approach – it proved a DeFi DAO could directly hold and benefit from real-world assets. Also, Maker’s transparency means we have detailed data on performance – e.g., we can see that all RWA vault counterparties have so far paid back as expected, with zero defaults within Maker’s vaults since integration (though that partly reflects the overcollateralized nature and careful selection). Maker plans to expand RWA significantly under its “Endgame” strategy, possibly allocating even more DAI into treasury bills and other assets, which could swell its RWA portfolio further.
3. Ethena Protocol (USDtb Stablecoin): Ethena Labs is a newer entrant that quickly climbed ranks by focusing on a single use case: a fully-collateralized stablecoin, USDtb, backed by U.S. Treasury bills. By 2025, Ethena’s protocol held about $1.18 billion in assets (mostly in a BlackRock-managed money market fund) to back the USDtb stablecoin1. Essentially, Ethena issues USDtb tokens when users deposit USD or USDC, and those funds are invested in a yield-generating fund (like BlackRock’s), with the yield paid out to support the token’s peg and perhaps reward holders. Ethena markets USDtb as a “decentralized, crypto-native alternative to fiat stablecoins” that is still tied 1:1 to USD but generates yield. Think of it as a cross between a stablecoin and an ETF share. Ethena’s model required heavy RWA integration – the smart contracts interface with custodians that hold the T-bills (again via prime brokers or funds). The reason Ethena got so big so fast is due to demand for interest-bearing stable assets. As mentioned earlier, on-chain stable yields were below off-chain yields; Ethena arbitraged that. With three-quarters of stablecoin investors in 2023 being new to ETFs4 (as Larry Fink noted in his letter, retail saw tokenization as access to markets like money funds), a product like Ethena’s stablecoin gained traction among both crypto users and some TradFi users who wanted on-chain liquidity with TradFi safety. Ethena showcases a specialized RWA protocol – not general lending or trading, but a purpose-built stablecoin that marries DeFi tech with TradFi assets. As of now, USDtb is used in some DeFi protocols as a reliable yield-bearing collateral, and Ethena is exploring expanding to other currencies (maybe a Euro tbill version) or longer-duration bonds. The key takeaway: Ethena’s success underscores that stablecoins backed by real yield are a killer app, and it is among the top protocols by sheer TVL for that reason.
4. Ondo Finance (Flux and OUSG): Ondo Finance has positioned itself at the intersection of TradFi and DeFi by creating tokenized funds and structured products. By early 2025, Ondo had roughly $1.0 billion TVL making it the fourth-largest RWA protocol1. Ondo’s flagship offerings included OUSG (Ondo Short-Term U.S. Government Bond Fund) – essentially tokenized shares of a short-term treasuries fund (similar to BlackRock’s, but Ondo launched it independently earlier), and OMB (Ondo Municipal Bond Fund) for tokenized muni bonds. Ondo also introduced Flux Finance, a lending market where holders of OUSG (and similar tokens like Circle’s yield token) can borrow stablecoins against them. This addresses the liquidity issue: if you hold tokenized bonds, you might not want to sell, but you could borrow cash short-term using them as collateral on Flux. In essence, Ondo created both the tokenized asset and a DeFi market for it. This synergy propelled their growth. Ondo’s stablecoin yield product, USDY, is a notable innovation: it is a stablecoin fully backed by OUSG (T-bills) so it pays out yield to holders. As per Gate.io research, USDY’s supply grew by 641% in 20231, reflecting massive demand. Ondo’s approach is quite compliance-focused – their funds (OUSG, etc.) are offered under Regulation D in the US to accredited investors, so not everyone can mint these tokens, but once issued, the secondary trading among eligible participants is smooth. They partnered with institutional custodians and broker-dealers to ensure the tokens are regulatory-compliant.
5. Usual Finance (USD0 Stablecoin and Aggregator): Ranking fifth with about *$779 million in TVL1 is a perhaps lesser-known but important player: Usual Finance (issuer of the USD0 stablecoin). Usual takes a unique aggregator approach – its stablecoin USD0 is backed by a basket of other RWA tokens and stablecoins. Specifically, Usual collects yield-bearing RWA assets from protocols like Ondo (OUSG), BlackRock’s BUIDL, Hashnote’s products, and others (even assets from a protocol called Mountain1. By pooling these, USD0 stablecoin is collateralized by a diversified set of real-world-backed tokens. The idea is to spread risk and create a very secure, fully-reserved stablecoin that isn’t dependent on any single asset. Users can mint USD0 by depositing whitelisted collateral (like OUSG tokens, BUIDL tokens, etc.), and similarly redeem. USD0 is essentially a “fund of funds” stablecoin – tapping yields from multiple RWA sources and passing them through to holders via periodic interest or a rising redemption rate. With nearly $780M backing it, USD0 has gained traction among institutions looking for a stablecoin with broad real-world backing. One could view USD0 as an evolution of stablecoins that reduces single-issuer risk (for example, if one underlying fund halts redemptions, USD0 still has others). For DeFi, USD0 offers another reliable unit of account that is largely insulated from crypto market volatility. Usual Finance’s success also signals the emergence of aggregator protocols that build on top of first-layer RWA protocols – an ecosystem maturing where projects don’t all source assets directly, but also compose with each other’s tokenized assets to create new products.
6. Hashnote (USYC Yield Token): Next is Hashnote’s USY (US Yield) platform, notably the USYC token, coming in around *$760 million TVL1. Hashnote (in partnership with Anchorage Digital) launched USYC (US Currency) as a token aimed at institutional treasuries and crypto funds seeking yield on cash. USYC is essentially a tokenized note providing yield from a portfolio of short-duration assets (very similar in concept to Ethena’s or Ondo’s offerings). The Gate analysis lists Hashnote USYC as the sixth largest RWA project, with about $760M backing 1. Hashnote’s approach is to tokenize yields from structured products and managed portfolios; for instance, USYC is marketed as offering a stable value with interest, using a mix of treasuries and repo to generate returns. The token is issued under a regulatory framework (Reg D in the US) and primarily targeted at DAO treasuries and fintech firms that want to park dollars in a compliant, interest-bearing wrapper rather than just holding stablecoins that yield zero. In practice, holders of USYC likely have to pass KYC and hold through custody solutions (Anchorage, being an institutional custodian, plays a role). Hashnote is a bit less decentralized or visible in retail DeFi, but it’s very significant in the B2B and institutional DeFi space – providing the plumbing for big players to keep money on-chain in a safe, yield-generating form. The presence of Hashnote in the top 10 underscores that not all major RWA protocols are community-run DeFi projects; some are fintech startups directly working with institutional capital to issue tokens that then interface with DeFi at a more infrastructure level.
7. Tether Gold (XAUT): Moving down the list, we encounter commodity-backed tokens, with Tether Gold (XAUT) being the largest by far. As of 2025, XAUT has about $746 million in value1 (roughly 20,000+ fine troy ounces of gold). Each XAUT token represents one troy ounce of physical gold stored in audited vaults (in Switzerland, as per Tether’s reports). This token has been around since 2020, but really grew in usage as investors sought a stable store of value outside fiat. It’s used both by crypto traders (as a hedge or speculative gold play) and by some traditional gold bugs who find the token more convenient than gold ETFs or heavy bars. XAUT can be traded 24/7 and fractionalized (many users hold 0.1 XAUT etc., which would be impractical with physical bullion). Tether’s brand (from USDT stablecoin fame) helped XAUT gain trust, though transparency and redeemability are always questions – in XAUT’s case, holders can theoretically redeem for physical gold if they have enough tokens (minimum 1 full bar ~430 oz to get physical delivery, which big holders can do). Importantly, XAUT is an RWA token that has seen organic adoption on decentralized exchanges and as collateral. Some DeFi lending platforms allow borrowing against XAUT, treating it like a tokenized commodity. Its existence proves out a straightforward but valuable RWA use case: digitizing gold. Combined with other gold tokens (like PAXG, next on the list), these have brought a historically important asset class into the on-chain arena. For context, the combined gold tokens (XAUT, PAXG, others) in circulation equal several billions of dollars in value, making commodity-backed tokens one of the most successful RWA categories to date in terms of uptake.
8. Franklin Templeton (OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund): At number eight is the entry “Franklin Templeton” with *$671 million TVL1 which specifically refers to the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX). As discussed in earlier blogs, Franklin’s fund is a U.S.-registered money market mutual fund whose share ownership is recorded on a blockchain. This fund invests in very safe assets (government securities, repos, cash) and its NAV is tokenized in the form of BENJI tokens (on Stellar and recently on Polygon). By 2024, Franklin announced the fund had over $600M in assets, and by 2025 it crossed $7005, making it the largest regulated tokenized fund by a major asset manager. The significance of Franklin’s project is huge for RWAs: it demonstrated that existing financial products can migrate to blockchain infrastructure without creating a new legal entity. The fund’s daily yield (interest) is reflected by the token’s value or via dividends, and transactions of the fund shares settle on-chain within seconds. Institutional participants like fintech platforms (e.g., Circle integrated this fund for yield on USDC reserves) have interacted with it. Franklin Templeton’s success has likely emboldened other asset managers – indeed, reports suggest other top firms are exploring tokenizing their money market funds too. In the DeFi context, access to something like Franklin’s fund is a game-changer for DAOs or large stablecoin holders: instead of letting idle cash sit, they could park it in FOBXX tokens and earn ~5% with daily liquidity. However, being a 1940 Act fund, it’s subject to investor eligibility and not fully permissionless. Still, this fund’s presence in top 10 TVL showcases how traditional finance institutions themselves are directly contributing to on-chain RWA volume. It’s a vote of confidence in blockchain efficiency by a $1.5 trillion asset manager.
9. Paxos Gold (PAXG): Coming in ninth with *$649 million in value1, Paxos Gold (PAXG) is the main competitor to Tether Gold. Each PAXG token is backed by one fine troy ounce of London Good Delivery gold held in Brink’s vaults. Paxos, being a regulated Trust company in New York, provides monthly attestations and allows redemption (with certain fees and minimums). PAXG has gained a strong reputation for transparency. It’s used similarly to XAUT – as a gold proxy in crypto markets or a digital gold holding. Some differences: PAXG is divisible to much smaller units (making it more usable for small investors), and Paxos has integrated PAXG into various retail apps and even offered interest on PAXG through some partners when lending was popular. PAXG is widely listed on exchanges (both centralized and DEXs like Uniswap), often paired against stablecoins, enabling traders to swap between cash and gold positions easily. In DeFi, PAXG is accepted on Aave and other lending markets where users borrow stablecoins against their gold tokens. This is a real use case: using gold as collateral for loans, which traditionally would require complex arrangements (or visiting a pawn shop!). With PAXG, one can do it with a few clicks on a lending dApp. The presence of both major gold tokens (XAUT and PAXG) in the top 10 RWA TVL highlights that precious metal tokenization is a proven use case with strong demand. While they are simpler than other RWA projects (just one asset backing one token, no yield), their success is often pointed to as an example of effective tokenization of a physical asset.
10. Spinter Ecosystem (Spiko Token): Rounding out the top ten is an entity referred to as Spiko with about *$204 million1. “Spiko” here likely refers to a protocol or token project (perhaps short for Spice or something similar) that hasn’t garnered as much public attention as others on the list. Given its inclusion, we can infer it’s another RWA-focused project – possibly a tokenized fund or a specialized lending platform. It’s possible Spiko refers to Spice DAO or another tokenization project dealing with private equity or credit (there was a Spice VC token some years back focusing on tokenized VC fund interests). With scant information in the snippet beyond TVL, we’ll treat Spiko as an example of the “long tail” of RWA protocols: outside the big names, there are dozens of smaller projects tokenizing everything from litigation finance to equipment leases. While individually smaller, collectively they contribute to the ecosystem’s depth. Some may eventually grow larger or have a breakout success. The inclusion of Spiko in a data-driven ranking indicates that beyond the well-known stablecoins, bonds, and gold, niche assets are being tokenized too – it could be anything from revenue-sharing tokens, real estate in a specific region, or even intellectual property royalty tokens. The RWA space is broad, and not every project is a household name, though they are significant enough to register on aggregators.
Honorable Mentions: It’s worth noting a few protocols that, while not top-10 by TVL, have been trailblazers or hold significant mindshare in RWA DeFi:
Centrifuge: One of the pioneers of RWA in DeFi, Centrifuge allows real-world asset originators (like lenders) to finance assets via on-chain “Tinlake” pools. Centrifuge’s TVL (tens of millions) is spread across many pools of different asset types – invoices, real estate bridge loans, trade finance, consumer loans. Importantly, Centrifuge provided the technology for many of MakerDAO’s RWA collateral onboarding. In fact, a good portion of Maker’s RWA exposure comes through Centrifuge-facilitated SPVs that feed Maker vaults. Centrifuge has also partnered with Aave on a dedicated RWA market. It deserves credit for pioneering the legal and technical frameworks that others now use. In 2023, Centrifuge even launched its own chain (on Polkadot) to specialize in RWA transactions. It might not top the TVL charts, but Centrifuge is like the “Intel Inside” for many RWA deals.
Goldfinch: Another innovator, Goldfinch focuses on lending to fintech and microfinance institutions in emerging markets. At its height, Goldfinch had over $100M lent out to borrowers worldwide, funded by crypto lenders who received yields and GFI tokens. Goldfinch introduced the concept of a “trust through consensus” credit model where borrowers undergo off-chain diligence and backers provide a junior capital layer, giving confidence to liquidity providers. It experienced some loan defaults during the 2022 downturn and adjusted its model, but remains one of the purest examples of DeFi credit going to real businesses (e.g., financing thousands of motorcycle taxis in Kenya or retail shops in Mexico). While its current active liquidity is more modest (~$70M), the impact and lessons from Goldfinch have influenced newer protocols.
Maple Finance: Originally a crypto institutional lending platform, Maple pivoted part of its business to RWA in 2023 by launching a U.S. Treasury pool and a private credit pool (Syrup). By offering a tokenized T-bill product to accredited investors on-chain, Maple showed even a DeFi-native platform could incorporate TradFi assets. Its Treasury pool (called “Cash Management”) allowed DAO treasuries and crypto firms to park USDC and earn 4-5% from T-bills. Although Maple’s TVL in RWA pools ($30-50M) didn’t put it in the top 10, it’s noteworthy as a DeFi protocol adapting to demand for real-world yield. Maple’s model involves a licensed asset manager in TradFi who manages the off-chain bonds while Maple handles on-chain accounting and access.
Key Takeaways – What Makes a Leading RWA Protocol? Surveying these top players, a few common threads emerge:
Regulatory Compliance and Partnerships: Nearly all top RWA protocols have either built regulated entities or partnered with them. BlackRock BUIDL works with Coinbase and Securitize; MakerDAO uses trust structures and approved counterparties; Ethena, Ondo, Hashnote all operate under securities exemptions with qualified custodians. This underscores that handling RWAs isn’t like spinning up a typical DeFi contract – it requires legal vehicles, licenses or exemptions, audits, and often KYC/whitelisting infrastructure. The leaders invested heavily in this compliance layer, giving institutions confidence to deploy large sums (hence the high TVL).
Institutional Participation: Many of these protocols are either directly run by big TradFi (BlackRock, Franklin) or target institutional users (Usual’s USD0, Hashnote’s USYC). This indicates that the largest chunks of RWA value on-chain currently come from institutional money seeking blockchain benefits, rather than retail DeFi degens. The presence of names like BlackRock and Franklin Templeton on the list validates the space but also shows it’s not purely grassroots – it’s a fusion of Wall Street and crypto expertise.
Yield Focus: With the exception of gold tokens (which are value-storage), most top RWA projects are about yield – money markets, bonds, loans, etc. Yield is the magnet drawing DeFi and TradFi together. Protocols that successfully deliver consistent real yield (whether via stablecoins, fund tokens, or lending markets) have grown fast. This reflects broader macro conditions – in a world of higher interest rates, providing on-chain access to those rates is extremely attractive and arguably was low-hanging fruit for DeFi to capture.
Safety and Transparency Track Record: The top RWA protocols have, so far, avoided any major incidents. Their smart contracts are audited, over-collateralization is common, and reporting is frequent. Maker’s RWA program, for instance, has thus far had zero payment defaults; the Franklin fund reports daily NAV; Paxos and Tether publish reserve attestations for gold. This stability and professionalism have been crucial for convincing skeptics. In contrast, some smaller or earlier RWA attempts that had opaque practices didn’t gain as much traction. Trust is paramount when dealing with real assets, and the leaders earned it.
The “RWA revolution” is still just beginning, but these protocols are laying the foundation – integrating with exchanges, wallets, custodians, and other DeFi protocols. The top 5 alone account for over $5 billion in on-chain real-world assets, a number that would have seemed far-fetched only a couple years ago. As these platforms continue to scale and new ones enter (we anticipate even larger entrants like JPMorgan or Fidelity could crack the top 10 soon with their own projects), the RWA space will likely dominate a bigger share of DeFi TVL. In essence, the success of these top protocols is showing that blockchains can handle real assets at scale, and that a blend of decentralized tech and traditional finance frameworks can create robust financial primitives. This deep dive into the current leaders gives a snapshot of an RWA landscape that is maturing rapidly, with major implications for the future of finance.
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