Ethereum holds 70% of DeFi's RWA deposits, Token Terminal report finds

CoinShares and analytics platform Token Terminal released a joint Hybrid Finance Q2 Report, finding that deposits of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) into DeFi protocols grew from $2.3 billion to $7.4 billion year-over-year — even as total DeFi deposits fell roughly 15% over the same period. The full report covers on-chain activity from the second quarter of 2025 through the second quarter of 2026.

The largest share of deposits comes from yield-bearing products: tokenized Treasuries like BlackRock's BUIDL and JTRSY, private-credit funds JAAA, syrupUSDT and PRIME, and Ethena's delta-neutral sUSDe strategy. The chain split is lopsided — about 70% of all RWA deposits sit on Ethereum, with Plasma and Solana (mostly through the Kamino protocol) trailing well behind. Spot trading volume in tokenized assets rose roughly 220%, while aggregate decentralized exchange volume dropped about 70%.

“When an asset class grows through a downturn in its host ecosystem, demand is being driven by financial utility, not by market cycles.”

— Jean-Marie Mognetti, CEO, CoinShares

• RWA deposits in DeFi: $2.3B → $7.4B year-over-year (Q2 2025 → Q2 2026)
• Total DeFi deposits fell roughly 15% over the same period
• About 70% of RWA deposits sit on Ethereum, followed by Plasma and Solana

We've been tracking this closely: just yesterday we covered how tokenized assets are growing despite the DeFi slowdown by asset class (Treasuries, gold, indexes) — this report adds the specifics on products and chains.

Our take: what we're seeing is DeFi maturing, not DeFi dying out. The crypto market is reshaping itself around today's demand and regulatory reality, and that's exactly why some branches of the industry — speculative DeFi farming — are shrinking while others, like real-world asset tokenization, are growing. We can't say for certain whether this shift continues into the coming quarters, but there's clearly room left to grow, and we expect the trend to hold. For an everyday user interested in crypto, tokenized RWAs are already worth paying attention to — this is where the industry's future is heading. A good illustration of how fast this is actually moving in practice is Brazil's first loan backed by tokenized cows — a case worth remembering: asset tokenization today isn't an abstract idea anymore, it's a working tool.

Nothing here should be taken as financial advice — just information to consider.