CoinShares report shows RWA deposits tripling to $7.4B

Tokenized real-world asset deposits have more than tripled to $7.4 billion between Q2 2025 and Q2 2026 even as total DeFi deposits fell approximately 15%, according to CoinShares and Token Terminal.

CoinShares, in its Aug. 6 Hybrid Finance report produced with Token Terminal, reported that tokenized funds, stocks and commodities kept gaining usage across lending, spot markets and perpetual futures during a period of weaker crypto-native activity. The report covers distributed assets that can move outside the issuing platform and excludes networks such as Canton and Provenance from its main analysis.

CoinShares CEO Jean-Marie Mognetti described the company’s thesis as “finance is not being disrupted but rewired,” linking tokenized assets with DeFi lending, trading venues and high-performance blockchains. The statement represents CoinShares’ interpretation of the data, while the underlying usage figures come from Token Terminal.

RWA collateral grew while DeFi deposits contracted

Between Q2 2025 and Q2 2026, RWA deposits across lending protocols and decentralized exchanges rose from $2.3 billion to $7.4 billion. Over the same period, total DeFi deposits fell around 15%, according to the report. CoinShares attributed part of the DeFi decline to withdrawals and lower crypto asset prices.

Tokenized Treasury and multi-strategy products supplied much of the RWA collateral. The report named JTRSY, BlackRock’s BUIDL and sUSDS among the largest contributors, followed by private-credit products including JAAA, syrupUSDT, syrupUSDC and PRIME. Delta-neutral product sUSDe contributed another source of deposits.

Yield-bearing collateral remained concentrated on Aave, Morpho and Kamino. CoinShares said investors can continue earning income on some of those assets while using them for borrowing, lowering the opportunity cost of posting collateral.

Ethereum accounted for almost 70% of measured RWA deposits. Plasma ranked second in the report, helped by Aave’s expansion beyond Ethereum, while Kamino supported Solana’s share of the market.

Tokenized trading kept growing as crypto volume fell

Spot activity showed a similar divergence. Aggregate DEX trading volume, still dominated by crypto-native assets, fell approximately 70% year over year. RWA spot volume increased roughly 220% over the same Q2-to-Q2 period, although it started from a much smaller base.

Tokenized gold and funds generated much of the activity. CoinShares identified XAUT and PAXG as major contributors, while sUSDe volume increased after liquidity moved from Uniswap v3 to Uniswap v4. Tokenized equities were beginning to represent a larger share by the end of the measurement period.

More recent Token Terminal data indicates that equity activity continued growing after the CoinShares cutoff. On Sept. 8, Token Terminal measured tokenized stocks at a $3.19 billion market capitalization, with 6.3% deposited in DeFi and $9.70 billion traded on DEXs during the preceding 30 days.

On Base, tokenized stock DEX volume later reached $730.9 million over 30 days, with daily activity touching $100 million. In related coverage, crypto.news reported on Base tokenized stock volume reaching a new daily record, based on Token Terminal data from September.

RWA perpetual markets are expanding faster than spot use

Perpetual futures produced one of the strongest growth readings in the CoinShares study. Volume on TradeXYZ, an RWA-focused venue operating through Hyperliquid, increased approximately 20 times from launch while crypto-native perpetual activity weakened after October 2025.

Commodities, equity indexes and technology stocks accounted for much of the derivatives volume. Oil and precious metals generated heavy turnover, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 contracts gave traders index exposure. Semiconductor stocks represented another active segment, according to the report.

Open interest grew alongside turnover. CoinShares said equity indexes and semiconductor stocks held a larger share of outstanding positions than commodities, even when commodities generated high trading volume. SK Hynix became one of TradeXYZ’s larger markets after listing.

Fresh September data shows that the trend continued beyond Q2. CryptoRank reported on Sept. 22 that perpetual DEX open interest had reached $19 billion, with RWA contracts accounting for roughly 24% of total open interest, up from around 6% at the start of 2026. The number of RWA markets across perpetual DEXs had surpassed 1,000.

Two days later, RWA perpetual DEX trading volume for Q3 reached $365 billion, up 32% quarter over quarter. Public equities contributed approximately $175 billion, close to 48% of the total. Crypto.news covered the $365 billion Q3 RWA perpetual DEX volume on Sept. 24.

Hyperliquid leads venue revenue despite lower sector income

CoinShares found that application revenue across lending and trading venues declined between Q2 2025 and Q2 2026 even while RWA activity increased. Crypto-native borrowing and trading still generated most venue revenue, leaving RWA growth too small during the period to offset lower activity elsewhere.

Hyperliquid generated the most application revenue among the venues included in the report. CoinShares attributed the gap to its derivatives trading activity and to Hyperliquid operating both the exchange and underlying settlement infrastructure.

Lending protocols showed a different revenue profile. Morpho, which CoinShares described as the second-largest lending platform in the comparison, lacked a protocol-level take rate, limiting the direct revenue captured from activity. Trading venues including Hyperliquid, Uniswap and Aerodrome carried the highest revenue multiples in the report’s valuation comparison.

More recent TradeXYZ data has strengthened the derivatives side of the picture. An independent Hyperliquid Research Collective report said the venue processed $202.36 billion during Q2, up 79.2% quarter over quarter, while equity perpetual volume rose 377% to $58.9 billion. Crypto.news reported on the TradeXYZ volume increase to $202 billion earlier in September.

Tokenized stocks are drawing faster retail participation

CoinShares found large differences in how investor groups use RWA products. Institutional products such as BlackRock’s BUIDL carried average wallet balances in the tens of millions of dollars, while xStocks balances were much smaller and more consistent with retail participation. The report cautioned that one wallet does not necessarily represent one investor.

Tokenized equities recorded the fastest holder growth among the RWA categories studied. CoinShares linked the faster expansion to smaller investment sizes, while institutional products attracted larger balances from fewer wallets.

The report put tokenized-stock value at roughly $2.2 billion during its measurement period. By Sept. 22, CryptoRank measured tokenized stock market capitalization at $3.5 billion, led by BNB Chain with approximately $1 billion, followed by Ethereum and Solana. CryptoRank said the three networks represented around 70% of its measured tokenized-equity market.

CoinShares measured yields across selected RWA strategies between approximately 3.2% and 5.5%. Tokenized Treasury funds sat near the lower end, while private credit, lending markets, vaults and delta-neutral funding strategies offered higher yields with different risk profiles.