Ethereum still holds the largest share of the tokenized real-world asset (RWA) market, and Solana is the only other network building meaningful spot trading activity, a new CoinShares and Token Terminal report finds. RWA lending deposits more than tripled over the past year even as broader DeFi activity shrank.
Ethereum keeps its lead in tokenized real-world assets, and Solana stands out as the only other blockchain building meaningful spot trading activity around them, according to a joint report from CoinShares and Token Terminal. Arbitrum, BNB Chain, and Base, by contrast, have yet to develop meaningful RWA spot trading despite operating for years.
DEX Volumes Slide While RWA Trading Surges
The report attributed the gap to established networks' concentration of liquidity and trading infrastructure, where asset issuers and market makers already benefit from active markets. As a result, newer chains are also competing to attract established DeFi applications.
Between the second quarter of 2025 and the second quarter of 2026, aggregate spot DEX volumes fell by about 70%. Over the same period, RWA spot trading volumes rose roughly 220% year over year from a much smaller base. The report said the trend suggests tokenized-asset adoption is continuing independently of broader crypto market conditions, despite slower growth in recent quarters.
RWA Lending Deposits More Than Triple
Total DeFi deposits declined by around 15% over the same period amid investor withdrawals and lower crypto asset prices. RWA deposits across lending platforms and decentralized exchanges, on the other hand, more than tripled, rising from $2.3 billion to $7.4 billion. That divergence points to demand driven by the financial utility of tokenized assets rather than crypto market conditions alone.
Ethereum remained the leading blockchain for RWA-backed lending as well, with nearly 70% of all real-world asset deposits allocated to lending platforms built on the network, making it the primary venue for on-chain collateral.
Source: CoinShares and Token Terminal
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