Crypto outlook: Why RWA utilization may matter more than issuance, Binance Research explains
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.
The tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) continues to gain traction, with Binance Research highlighting the shifting focus from how much capital can be brought on-chain to how holders can utilize those assets post-issuance. As of September 15, 2026, total RWA assets under management reached $34.18 billion, marking an 85.2% year-to-date increase. Bond and money-market funds constituted the largest share at $18.29 billion, followed by equities, which saw the fastest growth with a 390.4% year-to-date rise.
Bond and money-market funds and equities together contributed over three-quarters of the market's additional value this year, with the former accounting for 54.7% of the increase and the latter adding 22.4%. Growth was also observed in other asset classes such as gold and commodities (46.6% YTD), private credit (43.6%), and real estate (17.9%), according to the report.
Binance Research introduced the concept of the “RWA Activation Era,” emphasizing the growing utility of tokenized assets across various financial applications like lending, exchanges, and collateral markets. To measure this development, the report introduced two key metrics: the Programmable Asset Ratio (PAR), which gauges tokenized assets relative to their underlying markets, and the Capital Activation Rate (CAR), which assesses the portion of tokenized assets deployed in verified on-chain financial applications.
Despite the growth in RWA assets under management, tokenization still represents a minuscule fraction of the underlying markets, with an overall PAR of approximately 0.01%. Equities, despite their significant growth, account for only 0.0029% of the $151.9 trillion listed-equity reference market. Bond and money-market funds, with $18.29 billion on-chain and a PAR of 0.0171%, have a larger existing asset base that serves as a pool of interest-bearing assets for on-chain applications.
The report measured the Capital Activation Rate (CAR) at around 12%, indicating that approximately 12% of the tracked tokenized asset value is currently deployed in applications like liquidity pools, lending, and collateral markets. CAR varies significantly by asset class, with private credit leading at 49.67%, followed by equities, which saw a notable surge in CAR, rising from 1.95% to 7.54% YTD.
Tokenized equities, in particular, demonstrate the gap between adoption and utilization. Liquidity pools account for 65.4% of equity DeFi TVL, while lending contributes another 28.1%, representing 93.5% of deployed equity value. Binance Research's scenarios for 2030 suggest that tokenized equities could reach $61 billion, $349 billion, and $987 billion under Conservative, Base, and Bull cases, respectively. This would translate to PARs of 0.04%, 0.23%, and 0.65%, respectively.
The report suggests that asset growth and utilization can compound, with higher PAR creating a larger asset base for financial applications and higher CAR increasing the utility of tokenized ownership. Binance Research emphasizes that the industry's stronger signal is not just AUM growth, but PAR and CAR rising together, indicating a progression from asset issuance to repeat financial use.
Written by urgent.news from The Economic Times - Top News's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
