The real-world asset (RWA) market could more than triple by 2026 as it expands beyond crypto-native applications, according to Chris Yin, co-founder and CEO of Plume, a layer-2 blockchain focused on RWAs.
Speaking with Cointelegraph, Yin noted that RWA values surged last year, roughly doubling, and he expects them to grow three- to five-fold in 2026 as a conservative estimate.
“Since the start of the year, we’ve seen RWA holders increase over 10x, and we expect this trajectory to continue. It’s not unrealistic to envision another standout year with user growth surpassing 25x,” he said.
Currently, more than $35 billion in RWAs are estimated to be on-chain, held by over 539,000 users, according to RWA.xyz.
RWA Market Set for Exponential Growth
Yin noted that the tokenized RWA market currently caters almost exclusively to crypto-native users but predicts it will expand exponentially in total value, user base, asset classes, and utility.
“Today, most RWA value is tied up in U.S. Treasury bills, but as the market matures—and with rate cuts in play—on-chain users are increasingly looking for higher yields in new opportunities,” he said.
“We’re already seeing a pickup in private credit as well as other alternative assets such as mineral rights, oil, GPUs, energy, and more.”
Regulations Could Boost On-Chain Demand
Regulatory developments could also accelerate growth, as many countries work on legislation for stablecoins and other tokenized assets. Yin said these efforts will help move tokenized assets out of the regulatory sandbox and into real-world use.
“Beyond issuance on the supply side, we expect to finally see demand start coming on-chain,” he added.
Plume Partners with Securitize
On Wednesday, Plume announced a partnership with Securitize, a tokenization platform backed by BlackRock and Morgan Stanley, to deploy institutional-grade assets on Plume’s Nest staking protocol.
The Nest protocol enables investors to trade and earn yield on tokenized assets. Through this partnership, Securitize’s tokenized funds will be connected to Plume’s network of over 280,000 RWA holders.
Hamilton Lane funds will be the first to launch, with additional issuers and asset classes from Securitize’s platform expected to follow in 2026.
Plume currently has 279,692 holders, representing roughly 50% of all RWA holders across networks. Despite this, it doesn’t rank in the top ten by total RWA value, with Ethereum and BNB Chain leading the market, according to RWA.xyz.
Yin explained that while Plume commands a large user base, individual holders tend to hold smaller amounts of RWA compared with other networks.
“Plume’s 280,000 users collectively hold around $200 million in RWAs, which is a healthier indicator of network usage,” he said.
