Real World Assets Meet Crypto: The 5 Leading Tokenization Projects of 2024

The intersection of traditional finance and cryptocurrency is reshaping how we think about asset ownership. Tokenization—converting real-world assets into digital tokens on blockchain networks—has evolved from a niche concept into a major force driving the crypto market forward. The movement toward real world assets in crypto gained serious traction in early 2024 when BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, launched BUIDL, its tokenized fund on the Ethereum network. This institutional heavyweight’s entry into the space validated what many in the crypto community already knew: real world asset tokenization represents the future of finance.

BlackRock’s BUIDL fund operates as the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund, offering daily accrued dividends directly to investor wallets and holding assets like U.S. Treasury bills and repurchase agreements. The ecosystem supporting this shift includes heavyweight players like Anchorage Digital Bank NA, BitGo, Coinbase, and Fireblocks—all signaling broad institutional confidence in the RWA tokenization agenda.

Understanding Why Real World Assets Matter for Crypto Markets

Tokenization addresses fundamental challenges in traditional finance. By bringing physical assets to the blockchain, it unlocks liquidity for traditionally illiquid assets and enables fractional ownership that wasn’t previously possible. Real world assets crypto ecosystem participants gain several key advantages:

Democratized Access: Tokenization democratizes investment opportunities, removing geographic and capital barriers that previously excluded retail investors from asset classes like fine art, real estate, and Treasury securities.

Enhanced Liquidity: Assets traditionally stuck in illiquid markets can now be traded 24/7 on blockchain networks, dramatically improving market efficiency and opening new trading opportunities.

DeFi Innovation: The ability to use tokenized real-world assets as collateral spawns entirely new financial products and strategies within decentralized finance protocols.

Institutional Bridge: By providing compliance infrastructure and regulatory clarity, tokenization attracts institutional capital into the crypto ecosystem, amplifying overall market growth.

Security and Transparency: Blockchain’s immutable record-keeping creates transparent, tamper-proof documentation that increases investor confidence in asset authenticity and ownership.

As of early 2025, the total market capitalization of RWA-focused coins has continued its upward trajectory, with projects continuously expanding their offerings and institutional support deepening.

The 5 Crypto Projects Reshaping Real World Asset Tokenization

Ondo Finance: Treasury Bills Meets DeFi

Ondo Finance (ONDO) stands at the forefront of bridging traditional fixed-income assets with decentralized finance. The platform’s flagship product, OUSG, was the world’s first tokenized U.S. Treasuries offering—a watershed moment for the sector.

OUSG’s recent integration with BlackRock’s BUIDL fund represents a critical advancement. Ondo Finance moved $95 million of OUSG into the BlackRock tokenized fund, enabling instant settlement and dramatically improving OUSG’s utility as both a store of value and collateral within the crypto ecosystem. This marked the first time a crypto protocol leveraged a major asset management firm’s tokenized fund offering.

The ONDO token itself serves governance functions within the Ondo DAO, allowing token holders to shape the protocol’s future. Additional products like Flux Finance showcase how tokenized Treasuries can function as collateral in DeFi lending markets. Recent strategic partnerships with Sui and Aptos networks underscore Ondo’s ambition to expand across multiple blockchain ecosystems.

Current ONDO metrics (Feb 2026):

• Price: $0.27
• 24h change: +1.02%
• Market cap: $1.30B
• Daily volume: $771.39K

Mantra: Bringing RWA Opportunities to Asia

Mantra (OM) takes a regional approach to real world asset tokenization, positioning itself as the Layer 1 blockchain specifically designed for RWA infrastructure. Following a $11 million funding round led by Shorooq Partners, Mantra has focused on creating regulatory-compliant infrastructure across the Middle East and Asia.

The platform’s mission centers on making investments more accessible in underserved regions by increasing market liquidity and promoting economic growth. The OM token operates as both governance and utility token, enabling staking rewards and participation in protocol decisions.

Mantra’s scalability-focused architecture addresses a core challenge in RWA tokenization: processing real-world asset transactions efficiently while maintaining compliance. The platform serves as foundation infrastructure for institutions, enterprises, and builders exploring RWA possibilities.

Current OM metrics (Feb 2026):

• Price: $0.07
• 24h change: -4.02%
• Market cap: $78.69M
• Daily volume: $733.87K

Polymesh: Enterprise-Grade Security Tokenization

Polymesh (POLYX) represents a different approach—a specialized Layer 1 blockchain designed specifically for security tokens and institutional-grade real-world asset tokenization.

Rather than attempting to be everything to everyone, Polymesh focuses deeply on governance, identity, compliance, confidentiality, and settlement—the key concerns for institutional securities issuers. This specialized focus combined with permissioned architecture (while maintaining blockchain transparency) creates a unique value proposition.

The POLYX token powers transaction fees, governance voting, staking, and security token management. Its tokenomics model approaches an asymptotic supply cap, carefully balancing network incentives against inflation control.

Current POLYX metrics (Feb 2026):

• Price: $0.04
• 24h change: +1.27%
• Market cap: $55.50M
• Daily volume: $18.44K

OriginTrail: Supply Chain Trust as Real World Asset

OriginTrail (TRAC) takes an indirect approach to real world asset tokenization through its Decentralized Knowledge Graph (DKG). Rather than tokenizing financial assets, it tokenizes verifiable information—creating AI-ready Knowledge Assets that establish trust across supply chains, healthcare, construction, and other sectors.

The TRAC token, launched in 2018 as an ERC-20 token with a fixed 500 million supply, powers all DKG operations. Its multichain functionality ensures accessibility across diverse blockchain ecosystems, enhancing interoperability for organizations seeking to build trusted data networks.

By creating verifiable, ownable, discoverable assets from supply chain information, OriginTrail addresses a core challenge in real-world asset tokenization: proving authenticity and chain of custody.

Current TRAC metrics (Feb 2026):

• Price: $0.33
• 24h change: +1.76%
• Market cap: $149.79M
• Circulating supply: 447.27M / 500M total
• Daily volume: $22.71K

Pendle: Advanced Yield Tokenization

Pendle (PENDLE) revolutionized how the crypto market treats yield-bearing assets by separating them into Principal Tokens (PT) and Yield Tokens (YT). This separation enables users to trade yields independently from principal, creating sophisticated hedging and speculation opportunities.

The protocol recently expanded into real world assets by integrating support for tokenized traditional assets like MakerDAO’s Boosted Dai Savings and Flux Finance’s fUSDC. This expansion positions Pendle at the intersection of DeFi innovation and institutional-grade real-world asset management, enabling retail and institutional investors alike to optimize yield strategies on traditional financial instruments brought on-chain.

Current PENDLE metrics (Feb 2026):

• Price: $1.21
• 24h change: +1.41%
• Market cap: $200.59M
• Daily volume: $166.55K

Additional Players: Building the RWA Ecosystem

TokenFi (TOKEN): Targeting the anticipated $16 trillion RWA market by 2030, TokenFi provides no-code tokenization tools for real-world assets. The platform’s TOKEN utility token powers ERC20/BEP20 token launches, AI-driven NFT generation, and smart contract auditing.

Current TOKEN metrics (Feb 2026):

• Price: $0.00
• 24h change: -1.72%
• Market cap: $10.80M
• Daily volume: $40.95K

Securitize & MakerDAO: Securitize has become the compliance infrastructure leader for digital securities (having serviced 1.2 million investor accounts across 3,000 clients by 2022). MakerDAO has moved aggressively into RWAs, with real-world assets now comprising approximately 30% of its balance sheet—representing over $2 billion in RWA collateral supporting the DAI stablecoin ecosystem.

Emerging Platforms: Untangled Finance (focused on private credit tokenization), Swarm Markets (emphasizing regulatory compliance with over $5.4 million in TVL as of early 2024), and others continue expanding the real world assets crypto infrastructure.

What’s Next for Real World Assets in the Crypto Ecosystem

The future of real world asset tokenization appears increasingly certain. Market expansion will likely accelerate as:

• Asset Class Proliferation: Beyond Treasury securities, expect tokenization of real estate, commodities, fine art, and structured products
• Regulatory Maturity: Evolving frameworks will reduce compliance friction for institutional participants
• Cross-Chain Integration: Real world assets will become native to multiple blockchains, not confined to Ethereum
• Institutional Participation: The BlackRock BUIDL precedent signals that major financial institutions will continue launching tokenized offerings
• DeFi Integration: Tokenized real-world assets will become standard collateral across DeFi protocols, deepening crypto’s connection to traditional finance

The convergence of traditional finance and crypto through real world asset tokenization is no longer speculative—it’s becoming mainstream. As the ecosystem matures and more institutions follow BlackRock’s lead, tokenized real-world assets will likely represent a significant portion of overall crypto market activity, fundamentally reshaping how both retail and institutional investors access, manage, and trade assets globally.