Author | Heimi, Bai Ze Research Institute
DeFi is changing the landscape by tokenizing physical assets such as real estate and art.
Real World Asset (RWA) tokenization is the process of converting tangible assets into tokens or NFTs, enabling them to be traded on-chain.
This opens up new opportunities for investors, as RWA has the potential to provide sustainable returns that are unrelated to the crypto market, which is an attractive option for investors seeking diversified investments. On-chain capital is looking for such sustainable and secure income opportunities, so RWA tokenization can become a catalyst for the next DeFi bull market.
RWA tokenization also helps release liquidity, allowing funds to flow freely from traditional markets into the crypto space, and enhancing the potential value of DeFi.
Today, various asset providers are beginning to step up to the RWA tokenization narrative, creating demand for tokenization in industries such as real estate, precious metals, luxury goods, climate, private/public fixed income, emerging markets, and trade finance.
For example, real estate tokenization - tokenizing partial ownership of real estate allows investors to easily invest, and the holder not only owns a partial proportion of ownership, but also can obtain real estate rental income. At the same time, the homeowner also raises funds.
As DeFi infrastructure projects mature, RWA tokenization has gained further development and innovation.
Pioneering projects such as MakerDAO, Aave, and Chainlink are taking the lead in exploring the potential of RWAs within the DeFi space.
While the regulation of RWAs is uncertain, the long-term potential of this narrative remains high, with the ability to reshape the DeFi landscape and bring value to both crypto and traditional markets. So keep an eye on how this narrative develops.
According to crypto researcher Crypto Koryo, there are more than 50 RWA projects on the market, and the native tokens of some projects, such as $CREDI, $SMT, and $FACTR, have risen more than 10 times in the past 3 months. However, most projects have not yet launched tokens. So, what opportunities are there for this narrative at present? Let's explore further below.
1. Real Estate Tokenization
LABS Group ($LABS)
LABS Group is a real estate tokenization platform that allows homeowners to tokenize their homes to raise funds without intermediaries, and investors can also gain access to other real estate tokens with higher liquidity through the secondary market.
In addition, LABS Group has launched a Web3 vacation platform Staynex, which enables resorts, hotels, and villas to be tokenized into NFTs - Staynex passes. Staynex passes provide holders with the utility of not only enabling them to travel around the world flexibly and stay in hotels at any time, but also to earn income from room rentals.
ELYSIA ($ELFI)
ELYSIA is a protocol that tokenizes RWA, making it easier to monetize RWA on the blockchain. Users can create their own RWA as tokens and then sell them on ELYSIA's DeFi platform ELYFI, or use them as collateral to borrow other crypto assets.
Tangible($TNGBL)
Tangible is a RWA tokenization ecosystem that provides users with access to RWA tokenization by launching a native yield-bearing stablecoin, Real USD, backed by real estate.
On Tangible, anyone can use Real USD to purchase valuable physical goods including but not limited to art, fine wine, antiques, watches, luxury goods from the world's leading suppliers.
When a user purchases an RWA listed on Tangible, TNFT ("Tangible non-fungible token") will be minted, representing the physical item. Tangible will store the physical item in a physical vault and send TNFT to the buyer's wallet. TNFT can be freely transferred and traded.
Props ($PRO)
Propy provides a blockchain and smart contract-based real estate transaction platform for buyers, sellers, and agents, facilitating instant transactions and reducing fraud. Currently, the platform has processed more than $4 billion in transactions with real estate partners across the United States.
Parcl
Parcl is a synthetic asset trading platform focused on real estate that provides price trends that can be invested in the global real estate market. Users can browse the global real estate market and go long or short based on whether they believe the value of the real estate will rise or fall.
RealT
RealT was founded in 2019. In the three years since then, the platform has processed more than $52 million in real estate tokenization, and investors can simply buy RWA tokens. More than 970 houses have been tokenized on the RealT platform, located in Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, Toledo, Florida and other states in the United States.
Theopetra
Theopetra and its partners T-Homes and REAT will build a real estate ecosystem around the $THEO token, aiming to make rental housing affordable for the lower classes in the United States.
EktaChain
EktaChain is a blockchain-based decentralized real estate trading platform that aims to make real estate business faster and easier for everyone. The platform allows everyone to trade real estate with an amount as low as $100.
Material
Mattereum is a platform that can tokenize RWA into NFT, including luxury goods, art, real estate. Each NFT transaction includes a simple legal framework to handle any disputes that arise, and it applies to the laws of more than 160 countries.
Robinland
Robinland's mission is to build a bridge between TradFi and DeFi for the real estate industry. By tokenizing high-quality, rent-generating commercial real estate assets, it can access liquidity from individual investors or institutional lenders such as MakerDAO.
HOME Coin Finance
HOME Coin Finance offers investors the opportunity to earn stable returns in $HOME, a stablecoin backed by home mortgages.
2. Multi-asset tokenization
Paxos ($PAXG)
Paxos is a blockchain financial infrastructure platform that provides corporate clients with asset tokenization, custody, trading, settlement and other services, enabling reliable and instant transfer of any asset at any time.
Although U.S. regulators forced Paxos to stop minting the U.S. dollar stablecoin $BUSD in February this year, the platform is still promoting its gold-pegged coin $PAXG (PAX Gold). Paxos issued $PAXG as early as 2019, and in the more than three years since then, it has quietly grown to a market value of about $500 million. Unlike ETFs that represent gold, $PAXG represents that the holder holds physical gold and can redeem 1:1 physical gold at any time.
It is worth mentioning that Paxos is one of the most funded blockchain companies, with a total financing amount of more than US$500 million. Major investors include OakHC/FT, Declaration Partners, Mithril Capital and PayPal Ventures.
Tokeny Solutions
Tokeny provides enterprise-grade tokenization infrastructure that allows enterprises to compliantly issue, transfer, and manage assets on the blockchain, enabling them to increase asset liquidity.
StrikeX ($STRX)
StrikeX is a RWA tokenized ecosystem with products including:
• TradeStrike (RWA token centralized exchange, CEX)
• Stock Token Bridge (RWA token creation platform)
• StrikeX Wallet
• TradeX (RWA token decentralized exchange, DEX)
• Xchain (private blockchain serving the StrikeX ecosystem)
• $STRX (StrikeX ecosystem native token)
INX ($INX)
INX provides a US SEC-compliant trading platform for RWA tokens and cryptocurrencies.
Curio ($CUR)
Curio is a RWA tokenized ecosystem with products including:
• Rollapp (RWA token creation platform)
• CurioInvest (tokenize limited edition cars so users can co-invest and share profits)
• $CSC (Swiss Franc Stablecoin)
• CapitalDEX (RWA token decentralized exchange, DEX)
• Wrapped Fractional Physical-NFTs (Tokenization of Ownership and Intellectual Property)
3. TradFi
Polytrade ($TRADE)
Polytrade has built a decentralized trade finance platform designed to provide seamless lending to businesses across multiple industries.
Defactor ($FACTR)
By connecting traditional financing with DeFi, Defactor aims to provide businesses with financing opportunities and liquidity.
Sologenic
Sologenic is a RWA tokenized ecosystem, with products including:
• Sologenic Asset Tokenization (RWA Token Centralized Exchange, CEX, will tokenize over 40,000 stocks, ETFs, and commodities)
•Sologenic DEX (RWA token decentralized trading platform, DEX, can also trade the above tokenized assets)
•Sologenic NFT Market
•Sologenic Wallet
ConsolFreight
ConsolFreight is a blockchain platform focused on the digital transformation of the shipping industry, providing trade finance and cargo insurance services.
4. Layer-1
Polymesh Network ($POLYX)
Polymesh is an institutional-grade permissioned blockchain built specifically for RWA tokens. Highlights:
•Incorporate governance, identity, compliance, and confidentiality into the core of blockchain.
•All participants - whether token issuers, investors, or node operators - must first pass decentralized KYC verification.
• Node operators must be financial entities.
• The native token $POLYX is classified as a utility token under Swiss law. (According to the guidance of FINMA, the Swiss financial regulator)
MANTRA ($OM)
MANTRA Chain is an L1 blockchain built on the Cosmos SDK, designed to become a collaborative network between enterprises, attracting enterprises and developers to build any application from NFTs, games, metaverses to compliant DEXs.
The first dApp on MANTRA Chain is MANTRA Finance, which aims to become a globally regulated DeFi platform that brings the speed and transparency of DeFi to the opaque world of TradFi, allowing users to issue and trade RWA tokens.
Realio Network ($RIO)
Realio Network is an interoperable L1 blockchain focused on the issuance and management of RWA tokens.
Provenance ($HASH)
Provenance is a L1 blockchain created in 2018 and built on the Cosmos SDK, designed to enable financial institutions and fintech companies to issue and trade financial asset tokens seamlessly and securely.
In subsequent developments, the chain has enabled more than 60 financial institutions, fintech companies, DeFi, banks, and credit unions to issue, manage, and trade financial asset tokens on a large scale. As of 2023, Provenance has processed more than $12 billion in financial asset transactions.
Intain
Intain is an L1 blockchain focused on financing and credit.
5. Climate/ReFi
Climate DAO ($ CLIMATE)
KlimaDAO provides individuals and organizations with the opportunity to directly participate in the carbon credit market through its infrastructure and $KLIMA tokens backed by real carbon assets.
KlimaDAO aims to solve key problems in the carbon credit market:
• Insufficient liquidity: There are many different types of carbon credits; different intermediaries fragment the total liquidity of the carbon market.
•opaque
•low efficiency
Regen Network ($REGEN)
Regen aims to be a catalyst for the global renewable ecosystem using blockchain, DeFi and other Web3 tools. Users purchase and trade carbon credit tokens and eco-credits to fund renewable projects.
Toucan Protocol ($BCT)
Individuals and businesses can use Toucan’s infrastructure to convert carbon credits into tokens and expand their protection of the earth.
Flow Carbon
Flow Carbon is a platform that tokenizes carbon credits, helping to increase transparency and liquidity and help expand the carbon credit market.
VI. Agriculture
Agro Global Token ($AGRO)
Agro Global Token is a cryptocurrency that aims to provide solutions to agricultural problems and make significant investments.
LandX Finance ($LNDX)
LandX is a decentralized protocol that aims to bridge the gap between farmers and investors.
The LandX protocol enables an agreement between borrowers (farmers) and investors, whereby investors provide farmers with funds in exchange for a portion of the future income from the land, while farmers solve the financing problem of purchasing new land and new equipment.
VII. Identity
SpruceID
SpruceID is a company focused on decentralized identity and Web3 authentication. Its identity toolkit SSX enables users to manage and control their own digital identities without relying on third parties.
Square
Quadrata is a decentralized identity system that allows businesses and consumers to generate a digital passport (SBT, non-transferable) through their ID card/passport, allowing them to seamlessly access the entire Web3 dApp network while protecting privacy.
8. Private Equity
Credefi Finance ($CREDIT)
Credefi connects cryptocurrency investors with SME borrowers and aims to provide decentralized and secure lending to real-world businesses while providing lenders with fixed returns that are uncorrelated with crypto market volatility.
KKR
KKR, an investment giant with approximately $471 billion in assets under management, has tokenized its healthcare feeder fund on the Avalanche blockchain to increase accessibility for individual investors. The threshold requirement for large institutional investors and ultra-high net worth individuals to participate in KKR funds is usually millions of dollars, but through this "tokenized" feeder fund, the minimum investment threshold for individual investors has been reduced to $100,000.
IX. Public Equity
Backed Finance
Backed Finance is an RWA token trading platform where RWAs such as stocks and ETFs are tokenized into ERC-20 tokens that track market prices. Tokens can be freely transferred between different wallets and are 100% backed by RWA reserves.
10. Private Fixed Income
TrueFi ($TRU)
TrueFi is a decentralized credit protocol that enables institutions to obtain credit at a fixed rate, thereby reinvesting in their business in a capital-efficient manner. Investors can add liquidity to the corresponding loan pool of USDC/USDT/TUSD/BUSD, thereby lending and earning interest. TrueFi is currently focusing on providing unsecured lending services in stablecoins to crypto-native trading investment institutions, and will gradually explore issuing unsecured loans to companies and individuals in the future.
Maple Finance ($MPL)
Maple is a decentralized credit protocol that provides uncollateralized lending to institutions. Investors can deposit funds ($USDC and $MPL) into the lending pool as liquidity providers, fund loans and earn returns.
Clearpool ($CPOOL)
Clearpool is a decentralized credit protocol that provides uncollateralized loans to institutions. (Lenders can only provide liquidity to institutional pools that they are invited to join)
FortunaFi
Fortunafi is a decentralized credit protocol that provides unsecured loans to businesses, and the businesses pay a certain percentage of their monthly business revenue as interest.
XI. Public Fixed Income
Swarm Markets ($SMT)
Swarm Markets provides compliant DeFi infrastructure for RWA token issuance, liquidity, and trading and is overseen by German regulators.
Ondo Finance ($ONDO)
DeFi protocol Ondo Finance has launched a tokenized fund based on U.S. Treasuries and corporate bonds.
12. Emerging Markets
Goldfinch ($GFI)
Goldfinch is a decentralized credit protocol for real-world debt funds and fintech companies, with a total loan amount of more than $100 million. Investors can provide funds to the lending company's pool of funds to earn interest.
Pressure Finance
Brú Finance is a decentralized credit protocol focused on agricultural products. Farmers can tokenize their agricultural commodities and pledge them on the chain to obtain loans, while agricultural commodities are stored in physical warehouses. Since the price volatility of agricultural products is still low, the interests of borrowers and lenders are also well protected.
Credix Finance
Credix Finance is a decentralized lending protocol focused on providing uncollateralized lending to emerging markets.
13. Security Tokens
Centrifuge
Centrifuge is an on-chain credit ecosystem that aims to provide SME owners with a way to pledge their assets on-chain and gain liquidity.
Centrifuge launched in 2017 and has financed a total of $317 million in assets on its marketplace.
Securitize
Securitize has pioneered a fully digital, all-in-one platform for issuing, managing, and trading digital asset securities that complies with the existing U.S. regulatory framework.
14. Others
PropChain ($PROPC)
Propchain is a blockchain-based real estate token investment marketplace that provides users with access to the global real estate market, as well as tools for all properties, sizes, and valuations. Propchain solves many of the problems that real estate investors encounter in traditional markets. The platform continuously sources new properties and lists tokens after due diligence to ensure that there is never a shortage of investment options on the platform, and that the properties are safe and sustainable.
Propchain allows investors to invest as little as €1,000. All properties are managed by Propchain's property management team, and investors only need to collect rent from the property.
Galileo Protocol
Galileo Protocol is a platform that tokenizes RWA into NFT, which supports multi-chain transfer. Currently, the platform mainly provides tokenization services for luxury goods.
LODE
LODE is a tokenized market focused on gold and silver. It has created tokens $AGX representing silver and $AUX representing gold to facilitate investors to quickly invest, trade, and transfer. 100% of the gold and silver entities are stored in LODE's physical vaults.
Project 79
Project 79 is a tokenized trading market focused on gold, mining, precious metal warehouses, precious metal refineries, and land ownership.
Homebase
Homebase is a real estate tokenization platform that allows users to invest in rent-generating residential real estate for as little as $100.
Lingo
Lingo is a hotel real estate tokenization platform that allows token holders to not only earn returns, but also receive free accommodation opportunities at hotels around the world based on how long they hold their tokens.
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According to the "Notice on Further Preventing and Dealing with the Risks of Virtual Currency Trading Speculation" issued by the Central Bank and other departments, the content of this article is for information sharing only and does not promote or endorse any business or investment activities. Readers are requested to strictly abide by the laws and regulations in their area and not participate in any illegal financial activities.
