Tokenization Market to Reach $2 Trillion by 2028, Ethereum to Dominate: Standard Chartered

Standard Chartered Predicts Tokenization Market to Reach $2 Trillion by 2028

Standard Chartered Bank projects a massive surge in the market value of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), excluding stablecoins. The bank estimates a jump from approximately $35 billion today to nearly $2 trillion by 2028.

Key Predictions and Drivers

Geoffrey Kendrick, Standard Chartered’s Head of Digital Asset Research, anticipates this exponential growth. He highlights several factors driving this trend:

• DeFi Evolution: Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is rapidly maturing into a viable alternative to traditional financial systems.
• Stablecoin Foundation: Stablecoins have paved the way for broader asset tokenization by increasing awareness, liquidity, and on-chain lending/borrowing.

Ethereum’s Dominance

Kendrick believes Ethereum will be the primary platform for this growth, citing its proven stability. He emphasizes that Ethereum’s decade-long operational history without a mainnet interruption outweighs the speed or cost advantages of competing blockchains.

Market Composition

Standard Chartered forecasts that tokenized money market funds and listed equities could each represent around $750 billion of the projected $2 trillion market. The remaining portion would consist of funds, private equity, commodities, corporate debt, and real estate.

Stablecoins’ Transformative Role

The increased adoption of stablecoins has transformed DeFi from a niche sector into a mainstream financial ecosystem. This empowers non-banking entities to manage payments and savings traditionally controlled by banks.

“Stablecoins have created several necessary conditions for broader DeFi expansion through increased public awareness, on-chain liquidity, and lending/borrowing activity in fiat-linked products,” said Kendrick.

RWA Tokenization and Lending

The report identifies RWA tokenization and lending as the two segments where DeFi protocols have the greatest potential to challenge and reshape traditional finance.

Potential Risks

Despite the optimistic outlook, Standard Chartered cautions about potential risks. A lack of clear regulatory guidelines in the United States before the 2026 midterm elections could pose a challenge. However, the bank does not consider this its base case scenario.