Funding agency Pantera Capital posits that the real-world asset (RWA) tokenization market continues to be in an early stage of improvement.
In its most up-to-date report, printed on Could 6, 2026, Pantera notes that a lot of the RWA business continues to copy conventional monetary buildings, slightly than constructing really native devices for decentralized networks.
To assist his thesis, specialists in contrast the present second of tokenization with the early years of the Web. On this regard, they are saying:
The primary stage of web media consisted of newspapers copying and pasting articles onto web sites. Supply velocity improved. Availability was expanded. However the format was equivalent.
Pantera Capital, funding firm.
For the agency, one thing related is presently occurring with a big a part of the tokenized belongings: The technological channel has modified, however the operational logic stays virtually the identical as in conventional finance.
Many of the belongings are nonetheless within the “wrapped” section
The corporate analyzes 542 tokenized belongings from 11 totally different classes, equal to about $320.6 billion in tracked market worth. The examine concluded that 77.6% of the merchandise evaluated nonetheless belong to the “wrapped” classthat’s, buildings the place a digital token exists, however the precise functioning of the asset continues to depend upon the underlying asset held by custodians, exterior registries and conventional monetary intermediaries.
An instance of this mannequin is a few tokenized US Treasury bond funds, akin to BlackRock’s BUIDL, the place the token capabilities extra as a digital proof of the true asset than as a totally autonomous instrument.
In that graph, the brown shade represents the “wrapped” belongings, that are 460 of the 593 surveyed. Grey corresponds to hybrid belongings, with 66 instances. Darkish inexperienced marks the native belongings, simply 16. Beige identifies 51 unqualified belongings, as a result of they correspond to pilots or ads that aren’t but energetic. The primary studying is that 77.6% of the market stays concentrated within the “wrapped” section.
The report maintains that, in lots of instances, “the token provides a layer of information, however doesn’t change something about how the asset really works.”
Pantera additionally developed its personal index known as Tokenization Progress Index (TPI), designed to measure the precise diploma of tokenization maturity. The overall common obtained by the belongings analyzed was 2.04 factors out of 5.
Pantera measures the maturity of every tokenized asset based mostly on three dimensions: issuance and redemption; transferability and settlement; and complexity and composability, that’s, the power of an RWA to be built-in and used inside different digital monetary protocols. Within the graph, mild inexperienced represents the primary dimension; the darkish inexperienced, the second; and yellow, the third.
Stablecoins seem as essentially the most superior class, with higher mixed scores. On the reverse finish are actual property (actual property) and personal funding capital (personal fairness)two classes that also current low operational maturity.
One of many central information of the report signifies that 91.1% of the belongings evaluated nonetheless depend upon issuance and redemption mechanisms managed by directors or custodians. Solely 13 belongings reached fashions thought of autonomous. This dependency explains why many merchandise proceed to perform as “wrapped”: The token might exist on the community, however its issuance, redemption, or validation continues to be tied to exterior infrastructure.
The corporate clarifies that this doesn’t suggest that the wrapped tokens are ineffective. In truth, it acknowledges that they will enhance distribution, entry and operational velocity. Nevertheless, considers that they nonetheless symbolize an preliminary stage of the method.
For Pantera, the primary drawback is obvious: “The market is getting broader, not deeper.”
The market grows, however stays concentrated
In accordance with the examine, In 2025, 168 new tokenized belongings had been launched, a development of 115% in comparison with the 78 merchandise registered in 2024. Nevertheless, nearly all of these launches proceed to copy fashions of low technological complexity.
The stacked bars present the variety of new tokenized belongings launched annually, divided by asset class. The gold line displays the worth on-chain complete of the market. Essentially the most marked soar is noticed between 2024 and 2025, when the worth went from 200.6 billion {dollars} to 313.7 billion. On the 2026 lower, the market reached $321.1 billion.
The doc additionally reveals a robust market focus. Stablecoins symbolize $293 billion, equal to 91.6% of the entire worth tracked by Pantera.
On this graph, the bars point out the worth on-chain of every asset class, whereas the golden line marks the common TPI of every class. The stablecoins focus 293.7 billion {dollars} and have the best common TPI, of two.67. They’re adopted by tokenized US Treasury bonds, with $12 billion and a TPI of two.15. The distinction reveals that the market just isn’t solely concentrated in a single asset class, but in addition within the class that achieved the best working revenue.
In accordance with the agency, stablecoins are presently the one class that It achieved vital financial scale together with concrete utility inside the digital monetary ecosystem.
Pantera considers really “native” merchandise to be these designed on to function on decentralized infrastructure, with out counting on parallel registries or exterior handbook processes.
Among the many most superior examples mentions sky greenback (USDS, previously DAI) from MakerDAO and GHO from Aave. In contrast to conventional wrapped belongings, these belongings had been created to perform completely inside automated protocols, with issuance, collateralization and operations managed by means of sensible contracts, as defined by CriptoNoticias.
The report argues that the subsequent stage of tokenization won’t be outlined by merely “placing extra belongings on the community,” however slightly by constructing devices which might be unattainable to copy by means of conventional monetary infrastructure.
At this level, Pantera mentions future merchandise with steady settlement, automated collateral administration, programmable technology of economic efficiency and belongings whose money flows, dangers or possession rights could be separated and traded individually in actual time.
The report additionally highlighted that enormous conventional establishments are already actively advancing tokenization. These embrace BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, Constancy, WisdomTree and JPMorgan, primarily by means of merchandise linked to tokenized US Treasury bonds.
Particularly, Franklin Templeton tasks a extra accelerated enlargement of the market and highlights that tokenization will find yourself integrating conventional monetary establishments and digital belongings into a typical infrastructure. In truth, it predicts that it might exceed $16 trillion in 2023.
Nevertheless, Pantera highlights that even a big a part of these institutional developments continues to function below “wrapped” fashions, the place core processes proceed to depend upon conventional monetary infrastructure and offline validations.
