Tokenized RWA market cap rises 40% to top $51 billion as industry races to define equity tokenization model: Bernstein

The market cap of tokenized real-world assets has surpassed $51 billion, up 40% year-to-date, even as the broader crypto market has fallen roughly 20% over the same period, a sign that institutional interest in tokenization is accelerating independent of crypto market conditions, Bernstein analysts said in a note Monday.

Analysts from the research and brokerage firm led by Gautam Chhugan cited data showing private credit remains the dominant asset class at roughly 47% of total RWA market cap, followed by U.S. Treasurys at approximately 30% and commodities at about 9%.

Ethereum and Provenance together host more than 70% of total tokenized asset activity, with Provenance at 39% and Ethereum at 33%. Total RWA asset holders have surpassed 917,000 — up approximately 60% year-to-date.

Two models, one prize

Equity tokenization is where the competitive heat is building fastest. Tokenized equities have grown 130% year-to-date, from $700 million to $1.6 billion, Bernstein said. The industry is coalescing around two distinct business models, and the gap between them is structural, not cosmetic, analysts argued.

The first is the trading infrastructure model. Under this approach, regulated broker-dealer platforms — Robinhood's offering of tokenized U.S. stocks to E.U. investors is the leading example Bernstein cites — buy the underlying shares and hold them in custody against a blockchain token. The tokens trade 24/7 with real-time settlement and generate incremental trading commissions, but they carry a critical limitation since the third-party sponsor, not the tokenholder, remains the registered shareholder. Dividend entitlement and voting rights do not transfer.

The second is the settlement and exchange infrastructure model, where blockchain functions as the actual settlement layer for company-issued shares.

Tokenholders receive full ownership rights and the protections of traditional exchange-listed securities. Figure, Bullish, and Securitize are building the regulated infrastructure stack for this model using SEC-registered transfer agents, Alternative Trading System licenses, and regulated broker-dealer and custody solutions.

Figure has already launched its own tokenized shares on OPEN, with another listing in the pipeline. Bullish's acquisition of Equiniti allows it to operate a unified ledger spanning both traditional and tokenized securities while offering token design and liquidity services.

Securitize has partnered with NYSE for its tokenized securities platform, with Computershare enabling tokenized share issuance for U.S. companies and Jump Trading building DEX-style onchain trading for tokenized equities.

Coinbase pushes a third path

Coinbase is pursuing a hybrid play that Bernstein frames as a multi-asset single exchange. Over the past several weeks, Coinbase has launched tokenized equities, equity perpetuals, and pre-IPO perpetuals for non-U.S. investors, alongside a regulated crypto derivatives market for U.S. investors.

Its tokenized stocks, backed one-for-one by underlying shares, carry features including automatic dividend payouts and programmatic onchain utility. Coinbase has become the only CFTC-regulated futures commission merchant offering U.S. investors access to global crypto derivatives — futures and options — a structural competitive advantage Bernstein identifies as central to what it calls Coinbase's "everything exchange" proposition.

Regulatory runway

The industry's long-term trajectory rests heavily on regulatory developments still in progress. The SEC has proposed rescinding rules 611 and 610(e), a move that would allow tokenized stocks to trade more freely on decentralized venues without mandatory compliance routing through traditional exchanges.

In December 2025, the SEC issued a no-action letter to DTC for a tokenized equity pilot and approved proposals from NYSE and Nasdaq to permit tokenized securities trading on their respective exchanges.

The industry is still awaiting a potential "innovation exemption" that could allow onshore trading of tokenized U.S. stocks, the regulatory unlock Bernstein identifies as the clearest catalyst for the next phase of growth.

Tokenized equity volumes accelerating

Monthly transfer volumes for tokenized equities reached $5.3 billion in June on a run-rate basis as of June 19, up from $3.6 billion in May and $500 million as recently as September 2025, Bernstein's data show. The trajectory is steep, as volumes have more than doubled in the two months since April alone.

Among the top tokenization platforms by assets, Figure leads the field at $18.9 billion, driven primarily by private credit. Securitize ranks second at $4.3 billion across Treasury and stock exposure, followed by Ondo at $3.8 billion, Circle at $3 billion, and Tether at $2.5 billion in commodities.