How Tokenized U.S. Treasuries and Equities Are Fueling the On-Chain RWA Boom in 2024

In 2024, the intersection of traditional finance and blockchain technology reached a watershed moment. Tokenized U. S. Treasuries and equities became the catalysts for a new era of real-world asset (RWA) adoption on-chain, transforming both institutional and retail investment strategies. The numbers are unambiguous: tokenized U. S. Treasuries skyrocketed from $736 million in early 2024 to over $7.5 billion by September 2025, according to Capco. This explosive growth is not just a headline – it signals a paradigm shift in how capital is allocated, managed, and traded within decentralized finance.

Tokenized Treasuries: The New On-Chain Safe Haven

Tokenized U. S. Treasuries have rapidly become the backbone of on-chain RWA portfolios, offering investors the stability and yield of government debt with the composability, transparency, and 24/7 liquidity native to blockchains. BlackRock’s BUIDL fund exemplifies this trend: launched in March 2024, it captured an astonishing 44% share of the tokenized Treasury market by April 2025. Franklin Templeton’s BENJI fund and platforms like Ondo Finance have also contributed substantial inflows as institutions seek both yield and compliance in their on-chain allocations.

This demand is driven by several factors:

• High-Yield Environment: In a period marked by persistent inflation and volatile risk assets, tokenized Treasuries offer stable yields that outcompete many DeFi lending protocols.
• On-Chain Liquidity: Investors can trade or collateralize these tokens around the clock, eliminating traditional settlement bottlenecks.
• Global Access and Compliance: Platforms are integrating KYC/AML layers to meet regulatory standards while enabling borderless access for qualified investors.

The result? A surge in total value locked (TVL) for tokenized Treasuries – up over 782% from January through September 2025 – as tracked by CoinGecko’s RWA Report 2024. For deeper analysis on why these assets have become the preferred safe haven during crypto volatility, see this resource.

The Expansion Into Tokenized Equities

The momentum isn’t limited to government debt. Tokenization has extended to equities through platforms like Securitize and Backed Finance, which now offer tokenized shares of major companies directly on public blockchains. By October 2025, the value of all tokenized RWAs neared $35 billion – marking a 10.6% monthly increase. This expansion has profound implications:

• Fractional Ownership: Investors can buy fractions of high-value stocks or ETFs without intermediaries or minimums.
• T and 0 Settlement: Trades settle instantly on-chain instead of waiting days for legacy clearing systems.
• Programmable Finance: Synthetic stocks unlock automated dividend distributions, governance voting, and advanced DeFi integrations.

This new market structure is not just about efficiency – it’s about global accessibility and leveling the playing field for investors outside traditional financial centers.

The Institutional Surge: From Concept to Reality

If RWAs were once dismissed as a niche experiment within DeFi circles, 2024 proved otherwise. Major asset managers now treat blockchain rails as core infrastructure rather than speculative side bets. The TAC State of Tokenization Report projects an eye-popping $30 trillion in tokenized assets by 2034 – but even today’s figures are hard to ignore: excluding stablecoins, the RWA market grew roughly 85% year-over-year, reaching $15.2 billion by December 2024.

This institutional embrace is reshaping compliance frameworks as well as liquidity models across decentralized finance markets. For more detail on how tokenized Treasuries are shaping institutional yield strategies this year, check this deep dive.

Yet, the real breakthrough is not just in scale but in the qualitative shift of market participation. Tokenized U. S. Treasuries and equities are now integral to diversified on-chain portfolios, used as collateral, liquidity anchors, and yield-generating instruments across DeFi protocols. This composability is driving a new era of financial engineering, where traditional and digital assets blend seamlessly.

Top Tokenized RWA Platforms & Funds in 2024-2025

• 

  Ondo Finance — A leading RWA platform, Ondo Finance offers tokenized U.S. Treasury products that have attracted significant institutional capital, helping drive the sector’s growth to over $7.5 billion in tokenized Treasuries by September 2025.

• 

  BlackRock BUIDL Fund — Launched in March 2024, BlackRock’s BUIDL fund rapidly became the dominant tokenized Treasury product, capturing 44% market share by April 2025 and fueling institutional adoption of on-chain RWAs.

• 

  Franklin Templeton BENJI Fund — Franklin Templeton’s BENJI fund is another major tokenized U.S. Treasury product, contributing to the market’s expansion and offering investors blockchain-based access to government bonds.

• 

  Securitize — As a pioneer in tokenizing real-world equities, Securitize enables on-chain trading of tokenized stocks, improving liquidity and accessibility for traditional assets in the crypto ecosystem.

• 

  Backed Finance — Backed Finance specializes in synthetic, tokenized versions of blue-chip equities and ETFs, providing exposure to real-world stocks on-chain with 24/7 trading capabilities.

Liquidity, Transparency, and 24/7 Markets: The Investor’s Edge

Perhaps the most compelling advantage of tokenized RWAs is uninterrupted market access. Unlike legacy markets that close on weekends or holidays, blockchain rails offer relentless liquidity. Token holders can trade, borrow against, or stake their assets at any time, an innovation that fundamentally alters risk management and hedging strategies for both institutions and individuals.

Transparency is another game-changer. On-chain records provide real-time auditability of holdings, flows, and ownership structures. This reduces counterparty risk while empowering investors to verify asset backing instantly, a feature nearly impossible with traditional custodians.

The data tells the story: by October 2025 the TVL in tokenized RWAs had approached $35 billion, with tokenized U. S. Treasuries alone accounting for over $7.5 billion. As more blue-chip issuers tokenize their assets and regulatory clarity improves, these numbers are poised to climb even higher.

Challenges Ahead: Regulation and Liquidity Fragmentation

No transformation comes without hurdles. Regulatory compliance remains a moving target as global authorities grapple with how to classify and oversee these hybrid instruments. While KYC/AML integrations are standardizing access for institutions, retail investors still face region-specific barriers.

Liquidity fragmentation is another concern; with multiple chains and custodial solutions vying for dominance, deep pools of secondary liquidity are not always guaranteed. Interoperability standards will be crucial for sustaining growth as more assets come on-chain.

For investors navigating this evolving landscape, due diligence has never been more critical. Understanding protocol risk, custodial arrangements, and jurisdictional nuances separates opportunistic speculation from robust portfolio construction. For a closer look at emerging yield strategies using tokenized Treasuries, including risks, see this analysis.

What’s Next? The Road to $100 Billion On-Chain RWAs

The trajectory is clear: as regulatory clarity improves and interoperability advances, we’re likely to see exponential growth in both tokenized U. S. Treasuries and equities through 2026, and beyond. Institutional allocations are just getting started; retail adoption will follow as user interfaces simplify further.

The endgame? A borderless marketplace where any investor can access high-quality yield products or blue-chip stocks at any hour from anywhere in the world, without intermediaries or artificial barriers.

If 2024 was the year that proved RWAs could scale on-chain, 2025-2026 will be when they become indispensable infrastructure for global capital markets.