Crypto outlook: Why RWA utilization may matter more than issuance, Binance Research explains
Synopsis
Real-world asset tokenization is shifting from issuance toward utility, with RWA AUM reaching $34.18 billion by September 15, 2026. Binance Research highlights rising utilization, as liquidity, lending and collateral applications increasingly determine whether tokenized assets become financially active on-chain.
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The tokenization of real-world assets is moving beyond the question of how much capital can be brought on-chain, with Binance Research pointing to the growing importance of what holders can do with those assets after issuance.
According to Binance Research, total real-world asset (RWA) assets under management reached $34.18 billion, up 85.2% year-to-date through September 15, 2026. Bond and money-market funds remained the largest category at $18.29 billion, while equities recorded the fastest growth, rising 390.4% YTD.
Together, bond and money-market funds and equities accounted for more than three-quarters of the market’s additional value this year. Bond and money-market funds contributed 54.7% of the increase in on-chain AUM, while equities contributed another 22.4%.
Crypto TrackerTOP COINS (₹) XRP143 (8.34%)Bitcoin8,170,310 (5.94%)Ethereum261,271 (5.74%)BNB75,608 (4.75%)Tether96 (-0.22%)Other asset classes also recorded growth, with gold and commodities rising 46.6% YTD, private credit increasing 43.6% and real estate gaining 17.9%, according to the report.
Binance Research describes the shift as the “RWA Activation Era”, where a growing range of tokenized assets become usable across lending, exchanges and collateral markets.
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The report uses two measures to track this development: the Programmable Asset Ratio (PAR), which measures tokenized assets against their underlying markets, and the Capital Activation Rate (CAR), which measures how much of the tokenized asset base is deployed in verified on-chain financial applications.
Tokenization remains a small part of underlying markets
Despite the growth in RWA AUM, tokenization remains a very small share of the underlying markets.
The principal asset categories addressable by tokenization exceed $300 trillion globally, while more than $34 billion is currently on-chain. This translates into an overall PAR of approximately 0.01%, according to Binance Research.
Equities highlight the gap between growth and penetration. Tokenized equities grew 390.4% YTD, reaching $4.43 billion, but that represents only 0.0029% of the $151.9 trillion listed-equity reference market.
At the same time, equities’ share of tracked RWA AUM increased from 4.9% to 13.0%.
Bond and money-market funds, meanwhile, had $18.29 billion on-chain and an indicative PAR of 0.0171%. Binance Research said their larger existing asset base provides a pool of interest-bearing assets for on-chain applications, while equities are expanding faster through broader distribution and access.
Utilization becomes the next measure
The report argues that the growth of tokenized supply needs to be considered alongside how much of that supply is actually being used.
CAR measures the share of qualifying tokenized assets deployed in applications such as liquidity pools, lending and collateral markets. The overall CAR stands at approximately 12%, meaning around US12ofeveryUS100 in tracked tokenized asset value is currently deployed.
Binance Research said this leaves scope for utilization to grow “without requiring additional issuance.”
CAR varies significantly by asset class. Private credit has the highest CAR at 49.67%, while equities recorded one of the largest increases, with their CAR rising from 1.95% to 7.54% YTD.
For tokenized equities, utilization is currently concentrated in market infrastructure. Liquidity pools account for 65.4% of equity DeFi TVL, while lending accounts for another 28.1%. Together, the two categories represent 93.5% of deployed equity value.
Binance Research said current adoption therefore points primarily to “trading liquidity and collateral use” rather than broad utilization across every potential tokenization application.
Equity tokenization shows the gap between adoption and activation
Binance Research uses tokenized equities as a case study because adoption remains low relative to the underlying market, while utilization is increasing.
The report’s 2030 scenarios, based on forecasts from its earlier Tokenization’s Trillion-Dollar Runway report, put tokenized equities at approximately US61billion,US349 billion and $987 billion under its Conservative, Base and Bull cases respectively. From the current $4.43 billion market, those scenarios would correspond to roughly 0.04%, 0.23% and 0.65% PAR by 2030.
The report notes that higher AUM should generally translate into higher PAR, while CAR can develop independently depending on whether liquidity, lending and collateral applications scale alongside issuance.
Under the Base PAR case of 0.23%, approximately $349 billion of equities would be programmable. If CAR increased from 10% to 20%, deployed capital would rise from US34.94billiontoUS69.87 billion, without any additional tokenized supply.
“This shows how asset growth and utilization can compound,” Binance Research said, adding that “activation can become as important as issuance.”
What comes next for RWA markets?
According to Binance Research, distribution can increase PAR by bringing more assets and users on-chain, while liquidity, lending and collateral integrations can increase CAR by providing holders with additional ways to use tokenized assets after purchase.
The report said platforms with integrated distribution and trading infrastructure can connect the two.
Earlier research cited by Binance Research found that 58.5% of early bStocks users also used perpetuals or direct equities, suggesting that distribution can build on existing user relationships. The next opportunity, according to the report, is to translate that access into recurring liquidity and financing activity.
Binance Research also said PAR and CAR can reinforce each other, with higher PAR creating a larger asset base for financial applications and higher CAR increasing the utility of tokenized ownership.
“The stronger signal for the industry is therefore not AUM growth alone, but PAR and CAR rising together,” the report said. “That would indicate tokenization is progressing from asset issuance toward repeat financial use.”
Disclosure: This article has been written by Kumar Gaurav, who is not a SEBI-registered Research Analyst or an investment advisor. Gaurav does not hold any financial interest in the company as of the date of publication. The views/recommendations mentioned in this article, wherever applicable, are those of the respective SEBI-registered Research Analyst/brokerage and have been reproduced/reported with due attribution. They should not be construed as the views or recommendations of the EconomicTimes Digital or the journalist. Readers are advised to consider the original research report and make their investment decisions based on their own assessment.
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