TL;DR
- Market milestone: Tokenized assets AUM sits near $270 billion across currencies, commodities, treasuries, private credit, private equity, and venture capital, with growth driven by institutions adopting blockchain rails for efficiency, programmability, and round-the-clock settlement.
- Ethereum dominance: Ethereum hosts about 55% of tokenized assets as ERC-20 and ERC-3643 standardize issuance, PoS, and rollups cut costs, and PYUSD exceeds $1 billion while USDT, USDC, and BlackRock’s BUIDL showcase scale on chain.
- Risks and outlook: Analysts see the market compounding toward trillions with Ethereum at the core, yet ETH faces a second-largest sell wave and 98% of supply in profit, signaling near-term volatility despite strong structural tailwinds.
The market for tokenized assets has set a new record, with assets under management around $270 billion, and Ethereum taking the lion’s share as on-chain finance coalesces around its standards, security, and liquidity.
⛓️📜 Top 20 tokenized assets by AUM:
11 on @ethereum
2 on @solana
1 on @trondao
1 on @base
1 on @arbitrum
1 on @Aptos
1 on @BNBCHAIN
1 on @ton_blockchain
1 on @avax pic.twitter.com/HNDNXJwFuz— Token Terminal 📊 (@tokenterminal) August 17, 2025
Context
Token Terminal data places tokenized assets at an all-time high near $270 billion, spanning currencies, commodities, treasuries, private credit, private equity, and venture capital. Within this universe, Ethereum hosts about 55% of tokenized assets, a position built on its smart contract maturity and the ubiquity of ERC-20.
Much of the growth reflects institutions adopting blockchain rails for efficiency, programmability, and round-the-clock settlement that integrates with DeFi venues.
Why Ethereum leads
ERC-20 has become the common language across wallets, exchanges, and DeFi, while specialized standards like ERC-3643 enable compliant RWA issuance for assets such as real estate and fine art. Upgrades, including Proof of Stake and rollups, have strengthened security, improved scalability, and reduced costs, reinforcing Ethereum’s role as the default settlement layer.
Network effects compound as liquidity, developers, and standards converge, creating deep compatibility across wallets, exchanges, and protocols. Crucially, Ethereum’s rollup-centric roadmap preserves composability while pushing transaction throughput and lowering fees for both consumers and enterprises.
Institutional signals
Financial incumbents are already building on these rails. PayPal’s PYUSD is only issued on Ethereum and has surpassed $1 billion in supply, showing trust in the chain’s liquidity and dependability. Stablecoins like USDT and USDC remain among the largest pools of value, and BlackRock’s tokenized BUIDL fund stands as a flagship example of traditional instruments managed on chain. These choices signal durable confidence from mainstream finance.
Risks and outlook
With momentum building, analysts see tokenized markets compounding toward the trillions, and Ethereum’s infrastructure serving both retail and institutions. Stablecoins fuel cross-border payments and DeFi liquidity for consumers, while tokenized treasuries and credit instruments target institutional portfolios seeking efficiency and yield.
Near term, traders should not confuse structural leadership with a one-way price path. Analysts flag that ETH is confronting its second-largest sell wave even as roughly 98% of supply sits in profit, a setup that can amplify volatility despite the long-run case for on-chain finance.
