A quiet revolution is brewing in the financial world, one that promises to reshape how we think about assets. Standard Chartered Bank, a name you know, recently dropped a forecast that has many of us in the crypto space sitting up straight. They see tokenized real-world assets, everything from stocks to real estate, swelling to a staggering $2 trillion by 2028.
- Standard Chartered Bank forecasts tokenized real-world assets to reach $2 trillion by 2028, a significant increase from the current $35 billion market. This growth is attributed to the foundational work done by stablecoins in building awareness and liquidity.
- Ethereum is expected to be the dominant platform for tokenized assets due to its reliability and uptime, outweighing the speed or cost advantages of other blockchains for this critical financial infrastructure.
- The projected $2 trillion market includes significant contributions from tokenized money market funds ($750 billion) and tokenized listed equities ($750 billion), with further growth expected from tokenized funds and less liquid assets like real estate and private equity.
Think about that for a moment. Today, this market hovers around $35 billion. We are talking about a projected jump of roughly 5,600% in just a few years. It’s a bold prediction, but one backed by some solid reasoning from the bank’s digital assets research head.
Geoffrey Kendrick, the expert leading Standard Chartered’s digital asset research, points to stablecoins as the unsung heroes here. He says they’ve done the heavy lifting, building public awareness, pumping liquidity into the system, and making on-chain lending and borrowing a common practice. These fiat-pegged digital currencies, in his view, have prepared the ground for other assets to follow.
So, what exactly are we talking about when we say “tokenized real-world assets” or RWAs? It’s simply taking a traditional asset, like a share in a company or a piece of property, and turning it into a digital token on a blockchain. This makes it easier to trade, easier to settle, and potentially accessible to a much wider audience across the globe.
When it comes to where this activity will happen, Kendrick is quite clear. He expects the vast majority of these tokenized assets to live on Ethereum. His reasoning is simple: reliability. Ethereum has been running for over a decade without a single mainnet network outage. Other chains might be faster or cheaper, he notes, but for this kind of foundational shift, stability wins out.
I find that perspective interesting. It’s a reminder that sometimes, the flashiest new tech isn’t always the one that captures the biggest market share. For serious financial institutions, trust and uptime often outweigh raw speed. It’s like choosing a sturdy old truck for hauling precious cargo over a flashy sports car.
Kendrick breaks down that $2 trillion figure into some digestible chunks. He sees tokenized money market funds grabbing a significant slice, around $750 billion. This will largely be driven by corporations using stablecoins for their financial operations. Another $750 billion is earmarked for tokenized listed equities, though this depends on clearer U.S. regulations and the full potential of DeFi solutions being realized.
Beyond those big two, he predicts tokenized funds will account for $250 billion. The remaining $250 billion will come from less liquid assets, the ones that are usually harder to buy and sell quickly. Think private equity, commodities, corporate debt, and even real estate. It’s a truly diverse basket of assets getting the digital treatment.
This forecast isn’t just a standalone prediction. Kendrick’s RWA projection actually aligns perfectly with his earlier stablecoin market cap forecast, both hitting the $2 trillion mark by 2028. It shows a consistent vision for how these digital assets will grow and intertwine.
DeFi’s New Chapter
For a long time, decentralized finance (DeFi) felt like a club for crypto insiders. It was a place where “crypto natives” could trade, borrow, and lend among themselves, often using jargon that would make your head spin. But Kendrick sees a change happening, a big one.
He says stablecoins have been the catalyst for this shift. Their growing liquidity has broadened on-chain lending and borrowing activity across all sorts of asset types. This has created what he calls “necessary pre-conditions” for DeFi to expand. We’re talking increased public awareness, more liquidity flowing through the system, and more lending and borrowing activity tied to fiat currencies.
Kendrick believes DeFi is finally starting to disrupt traditional finance, or TradFi as we call it. He points to lending and RWAs as the two key areas where DeFi protocols can truly make a mark. Imagine being able to trade tokenized real-world assets on decentralized exchanges (DEXs). That could offer a real challenge to traditional stock exchanges, couldn’t it?
It’s a fascinating thought. While staking, for example, is unique to digital assets, the ability to trade tokenized versions of everyday investments on a blockchain platform opens up new possibilities. It’s a different way to access markets, potentially with different rules and different efficiencies.
Kendrick describes a powerful cycle at play here: liquidity brings new products, and new products attract more liquidity. He’s convinced that a self-sustaining cycle of DeFi growth has begun. It’s a bit like a snowball rolling downhill, gathering more snow as it goes. Once it gets going, it’s hard to stop.
The Regulatory Landscape
Of course, for any of this to truly take off, the regulatory environment needs to catch up. The U.S. has already made some strides. The GENIUS Act, passed in July 2025, set up a clear framework for stablecoins. This has already sped up their adoption for both everyday users and big institutions.
The next big legislative step, according to Kendrick, is the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, often called the Clarity Act. This bill could pass by late 2025 or early 2026. If it does, it would further legitimize asset tokenization, DeFi lending, and decentralized trading. Clear rules tend to bring in more players, after all.
But what if the Clarity Act hits a snag? Kendrick says even without it, clearer rules could still emerge. This would happen if U.S. regulators, like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), act in line with the GENIUS Act’s intent. This could happen once the current consultation period wraps up in mid-2026.
The main risk, he cautions, is if regulatory clarity in the U.S. simply doesn’t happen. This could occur if the administration can’t push through changes before the November 2026 midterm elections. However, Kendrick doesn’t see this as the most likely outcome. It’s a possibility, but not his base case.
So, we stand at a crossroads. The technology is advancing, the market is showing signs of significant growth, and the regulatory pieces are slowly falling into place. It makes you wonder what our investment portfolios will look like a few years down the line, doesn’t it?
