RWAs buck the DeFi slowdown as tokenized assets gain traction: CoinShares

While overall DeFi deposits fell roughly 15% over the past year, deposits in tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) more than tripled — from $2.3 billion to $7.4 billion by the second quarter of 2026. That's according to a new report from CoinShares.

The divergence shows up in trading volumes too: spot volumes on decentralized exchanges fell roughly 70%, while spot trading in tokenized RWAs rose about 220%. The fastest movers onto blockchain rails are the most traditional assets — Treasuries and multi-strategy funds make up the largest share of lending-platform deposits, gold leads spot trading volume, and oil, precious metals, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 indexes, plus tech and semiconductor stocks, are gaining traction through perpetual futures.

“Investors are not leaving traditional finance behind. They are moving traditional assets onto infrastructure that settles in seconds and does not close at night.”

— Jean-Marie Mognetti, CEO of CoinShares

• Tokenized RWA deposits grew from $2.3 billion to $7.4 billion year-over-year (Q2 2025 to Q2 2026)
• DEX spot volumes fell ~70%, while RWA spot trading rose ~220%
• Total tokenized RWA market cap grew 256.7% over 15 months, from $5.42 billion to $19.32 billion

CoinShares' data extends a trend we've been tracking: we recently covered how the real-world asset tokenization market grew 5x in a year and is targeting $19 trillion by 2033, and just days ago how BlackRock brought $311 billion in European money market funds onchain. A consistent picture is emerging: as speculative DeFi cools off, institutional capital is methodically moving exactly the boring, conservative assets onto blockchain rails — and doing it at an accelerating pace, not in fits and starts.

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