The relationship between RWAs and blockchain technology
According to the March 2025 CoinMarketCap monitoring service, the number of RWA projects has already exceeded 170 — and that's just those that already have their token. Some of these projects provide investment opportunities to a wide range of users, making buying hard-to-find physical assets easier.
1. Ondo Finance (ONDO)
When it comes to the real-world asset market, the Ondo platform is almost impossible to ignore. It is one of the top five RWA projects in terms of capitalization — $2.6 billion as of March 2025.
Ondo partners with major companies such as Franklin Templeton and BlackRock, the world's largest investment firm with more than $10 trillion in assets under management.
One of Ondo's key products is the OUSG Fund, a tokenized form of U.S. Treasury bonds.
The Ondo platform also has its management token, a key asset of the decentralized autonomous organization Ondo DAO. ONDO token holders can participate in the governance of the Ondo DAO, which controls one of the leading platforms in the Ondo ecosystem, Flux Finance. This credit DeFi protocol allows for deposit income and cryptocurrency-backed loans.
2. PAX (Gold (PAXG)
Users familiar with the cryptocurrency market are most likely familiar with Paxos. It is this issuer that is behind the creation of well-known stablecoins such as:
- Binance USD (BUSD), once one of the leading stablecoins by market capitalization, pulled out of circulation at the request of regulators;
- PayPal USD (PYUSD), a stablecoin for PayPal, is one of the leading international payment systems designed for cross-border transfers and payments. According to the data for Q3 2024, the PayPal platform is used by more than 430 million customers worldwide;
- Global Dollar (USDG) — a stablecoin regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS);
- Pax Dollar (USDP) is a stablecoin 100% backed by U.S. dollars.
Each of these stablecoins is backed by real U.S. dollars. However, Paxos has issued another stablecoin, PAX Gold (PAXG), which is already linked to the real gold rate. Each PAXG token is backed by real gold bars, which means that PAX Gold holders have the right to exchange tokens for physical gold.
As of March 2025, PAX Gold's market capitalization equals $651 million. Thus, it ranks 83rd in the overall cryptocurrency ranking and surpasses even well-known Web3 projects such as Berachain (BERA), Neo (NEO), Floki (FLOKI), and Axie Infinity (AXS).
3. Goldfinch (GFI)
The Goldfinch protocol gives investors access to private multi-billion dollar credit funds through tokenization. For example, the Goldfinch pool includes significant funds such as Apollo Debt Solutions BDC and Ares Strategic Income Fund, which have $733 billion and $460 billion in assets under management (AUM), respectively.
The loan pool is managed by Goldfinch Prime, the company behind the protocol's development. Investors can deposit their assets and receive income. As of March 2025, the Goldfinch credit pool had an annualized yield of 9.54%, but this figure is dynamic. That said, investments in the loan pool are available to all users via cryptocurrency wallet.
The Goldfinch platform also has its own GFI token on the Ethereum blockchain. Although Goldfinch lags far behind leading RWA projects in terms of market capitalization, which is only $56 million as of March 2025, this could change dramatically as the sector evolves.
4. Lofty
The Lofty platform allows you to invest in fractionalized real estate in the U.S. market and earn up to 15% annualized returns. Fractionalized real estate refers to tokenized assets.
Tokenized real estate means an investor can own a share of a property by purchasing a digital asset (token). This simplifies the process of selling or transferring ownership to other users and makes it possible to own real estate even if the investor is not a resident of a particular country.
The platform runs on the well-known Algorand blockchain, which provides fast and cheap transactions. Smart contracts allow automating management processes, making transactions more secure and transparent.
Unlike other RWA projects on this list, Lofty does not yet have its own token, and the team's plans to release one are unknown.
5. Tangible (TNGBL)
The Tangible protocol provides a stablecoin called USDR backed by real estate. The income generated from renting or selling the real estate linked to the stablecoin is distributed to USDR holders according to their share in the total pool.
However, unlike the other RWA projects featured in this article, which focused on highly specialized products, Tangible aims to expand the number of offerings. In addition to tokenized real estate, Tangible offers the ability to own other physical assets such as gold bars, watches, and exclusive wines.
All commodity transactions take place on Tangible's proprietary marketplace. When purchasing physical goods on the Tangible Marketplace, a corresponding Tangible Non-Fungible Token (TNFT) is issued. The goods themselves are sent to insured vaults after the transaction. If TNFT holders want to sell the goods, they only need to put their NFT token up for sale — the record on the blockchain will confirm the transaction itself.
The Tangible team has issued its own token, with a market capitalization of $20 million as of March 2025.