Key Takeaways
- Government securities and commodities are the most popular RWA to tokenize.
- RWAs are now the seventh-most-valuable category in DeFi.
- Ethena’s RWA TVL has risen from $90.13 million to $1.14 billion since March 1, 2025.
Real-world Asset (RWA) protocols bridge the gap between traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi). Tokenized products, which have exploded in value, now command $10.2 billion in total value locked (TVL).
This makes RWA the seventh DeFi category to reach this all-important milestone, and it would appear that competition is heating up with the arrival of Ethena (ENA).
Tokenized Boom
According to data from DeFi Llama, RWA protocols have now surpassed $10 billion , marking a major milestone for the nascent sector. This represents an increase of over $2 billion since the beginning of the year and almost double that since Jan. 1, 2024.
Leading the charts is Maker RWA. In short, it integrates tokenized traditional RWAs such as Treasury bonds and real estate, making them accessible in the DeFi space. It also collateralizes them to back its yield-bearing DAI stablecoin.
Maker RWA has $1.29 billion in TVL. Though this is down from its all-time high (ATH) of $3.77 billion in October 2023 – it’s a notable increase as the protocol held just $293.68 million in TVL at the start of the year.
Below this is BlackRock’s Ethereum-based tokenized money market fund, BUIDL, with $1.23 billion in TVL.
The fund invests in just three low-risk assets, U.S. Treasury bills, cash, and repurchase agreements. It’s a yield-bearing asset that investors can buy 1:1 for $1. It provides a steady rate of return, yielding between 4% and 4.5% APY.
Since launching a year ago on March 20, 2024, it has expanded into other chains, namely Avalanche, Aptos, Polygon, Optimism, and Arbitrum.
Ethena Could Dominate
The only other RWA protocol above $1 billion is Ethena (USDtb) which currently commands $1.14 billion in TVL. It’s particularly notable as the platform has recorded a 1,177% increase over the past month. It began March with just $90.13 million in TVL.
Its success comes from a rather unique approach.
Firstly, it has a crypto-backed stablecoin, USDe, which is its synthetic dollar that, at its peak, offered over 55% APY. As of March 2025, this is between 10% and 15%.
In December 2024, Ethena launched the RWA-backed stablecoin, USDtb, which is 90% backed by BlackRock’s BUIDL and 10$ Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC). It offers a steadier rate of return consistent with BUIDL’s 4% – 4.5% APY.
This TradFi-linked asset pulled DeFi users thanks to its low-risk appeal. March’s crypto market volatility and Ethena’s attractive yield drew fresh capital.
However, on March 5, when Ethena unlocked 2.07 billion ENA tokens (roughly $752 million), the protocol’s TVL exploded as tokens became staked or used to mint USDe or USDtb.
While Ethena has additional token unlocks planned for the future, none are expected to match the scale of its recent release.
Still, with hundreds of millions of ENA set to be unlocked in 2025, and a continued attractive rate of return, Ethena could climb to the top of the TVL rankings in the months ahead.
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