Tokenized RWAs triple deposits to $7.4 billion as broader DeFi contracts 15%: CoinShares

A new CoinShares and Token Terminal report found that the tokenized real-world asset space has surged while the broader DeFi sector has contracted.

Deposits of tokenized RWAs into lending platforms and DEXs more than tripled from Q2 2025 to Q2 2026, from $2.3 billion to $7.4 billion. Meanwhile, total DeFi deposits fell by approximately 15% over the same period.

According to the report, that growth was driven almost entirely by conventional financial products rather than crypto-native assets. Tokenized Treasury and multi-strategy funds such as JTRSY, BlackRock’s BUIDL and sUSDS led the collateral side, followed by private credit products and delta-neutral strategies.

Overall decentralized exchange spot volumes declined roughly 70%, yet trading in tokenized real-world assets climbed about 220%, with gold tokens including XAUT and PAXG accounting for a significant share, according to the report.

In perpetual futures, volumes and open interest in real-world assets continued to rise against a broader slowdown that began in October 2025, concentrated in oil, precious metals, the S&P 500, Nasdaq-100 and semiconductor stocks.

CoinShares said the data confirms the firm’s “Hybrid Finance” thesis, the idea that investors are moving conventional assets onchain rather than abandoning traditional finance.

“Look at what is actually being used on-chain: Treasuries, gold, the S&P 500, semiconductor stocks. Not one of them is a crypto asset,” CoinShares CEO Jean-Marie Mognetti said. “Investors are not leaving traditional finance behind. They are moving traditional assets onto infrastructure that settles in seconds and does not close at night. That is convergence, not disruption.”

Ethereum accounts for nearly 70% of RWA deposits, with Plasma and Solana also gaining share, according to the report.