RWA track development acceleration: From the new public chain Converge to the Sky competition, BUIDL fund has exceeded US$1 billion

Author: Weilin, PANews

RWA is undoubtedly one of the fastest growing tracks in Web3. As of March 25, according to rwa.xyz data, the total value of on-chain real-world assets (RWA) has reached US$19.53 billion, an increase of 19.58% in the past 30 days. Compared with US$9.407 billion in the same period last year, the on-chain value of the RWA market has achieved a year-on-year growth of 108%. Judging from the total RWA value of blockchain networks, Ethereum has firmly ranked first with a total value of US$5.01 billion, followed by ZKsync Era (US$672 million) and Algorand (US$473 million).

Recently, the RWA track has ushered in a number of key trends, covering public chain innovation, tokenization competition, mortgage-backed securities market, and real estate tokenization. In this article, PANews will briefly sort out and introduce these dynamics.

Ethena and Securities launch new public chain Converge, planned to be

launched in Q2

Converge is a traditional financial and digital dollar settlement network powered by Ethena Labs and Security. Its vision is to provide the first settlement layer designed specifically for the convergence of TradFi and DeFi, with USDe and USDtb as the core and security provided by ENA.

This blockchain is believed to have two core application scenarios:

1. for settlement of spot and leveraged DeFi speculation without permission;
2. Storage and settlement of stablecoins and tokenized assets.

Securities will deploy the issuance layer of its core future tokenized assets on Converge. This will go beyond tokenized Treasury products and funds to cover all asset classes of securities forms. Ethena will launch its core products USDe, USDtb and iUSDe and will be released natively.

The application will be built on Converge and is designed to enable traditional finance to interact on-chain with iUSDe, USDe, and Security-enabled assets.

Currently, five protocols have committed to building and distributing institutional-level DeFi products on Converge.

Aave Labs’ Horizon : Bridges traditional finance and DeFi through markets designed specifically for Securitize tokenized assets, including Ethena’s institutional-level iUSDe;

Pendle Institutional: Provides interest rate speculation infrastructure for scalable institutional opportunities such as iUSDe;

Morpho Labs: Provides modular currency markets for Ethena and Securitize assets;

Maple Finance and Syrup: Build verifiable on-chain institutional earnings and credit products based on USDe and real-world assets (RWA);

EtherealDEX: Design high-performance derivatives and spot transactions for Ethena liquidity with USDe as collateral.

Sky's $1 billion asset tokenization competition was announced, BlackRock,

Superstate, and Centrifuge won

On March 18, BlackRock-Securitize, Superstate and Centrifuge's tokenized treasury products were selected as winners of the Spark Tokenization Grand Prix. The event was initiated by Sky (former MakerDAO) and aims to bring up to $1 billion in tokenized assets into the Spark Liquidity Layer.

The competition jury Steakhouse Financial selected three winners from 39 applications, namely BUIDL from BlackRock and Securitize, USTB from Superstate and JTRSY from Centrifuge. They will receive $500 million, $300 million and $200 million respectively. Among them, Centrifuge's JTRSY was issued in partnership with asset management companies Anemoy and Janus Henderson.

Sky's plan is designed to diversify Spark's portfolio and accelerate the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA). After Sky governance is approved, these assets will be included in the collateral for Sky's native stablecoin USDS and the earning stablecoin sUSDS.

DigiFT launches two on-chain tokenized index funds, covering AI leading

stocks and crypto assets

On March 25, Singapore's licensed crypto exchange DigiFT announced that it will launch an index fund that will fully tokenize fund shares and its underlying stock assets and realize on-chain trading, which is open to qualified and institutional investors.

The first batch of products include:

• AI Stock Index Fund (tracks Apple, Tesla, Microsoft, Nvidia, etc.).
• Web3 Index Fund (covers crypto assets such as BTC, ETH, SOL, etc.).

They are managed by Hash Global, with Amber Premium as the distribution partner. The fund operates based on smart contracts and supports USDT and USDC subscription and redemption. It does not require a bank account and has real-time on-chain transparency and 24/7 liquidation cycle.

Previously on February 19, DigiFT announced that it would provide a tokenized version of Invesco's $6.3 billion private equity fund. This product allows institutional investors to purchase tokenized fund shares in USD, USDC or USDT. Since its establishment in 2006, the fund has an average annual net return of 4.5%, and has invested in priority guaranteed loans for enterprises.

Figure advances the on-chain mortgage-backed securities (MBS) market

According to rwa.xyz data, Figure Technology Solutions currently accounts for nearly 80% of the tokenized private credit market and is innovating mortgage-backed securities capital markets through blockchain technology. Major financial institutions, including Goldman Sachs, Jefferies and Deutsche Bank, are adopting Figure’s DART electronic lien registration system to advance their use of the Figure Connect loan market. The loan market was launched in June 2024.

The loan marketplace automates loans on the Provenance blockchain, allowing homeowners to obtain Home Net Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) approval within minutes and receive funds within days while eliminating the manual review process.

Figure formed a joint venture with Sixth Street in February and received a $200 million equity commitment to establish a Securitization mechanism for Figure loans and create a liquid market.

Republic and Hamilton Lane launch tokenized private equity infrastructure

funds, specifically for retail investors

Republic announced a partnership with Hamilton Lane to launch a tokenized private equity infrastructure fund for retail investors with a minimum investment threshold of only $500.

Hamilton Lane Private Infrastructure Fund (HLPIF) is the first "sustainable" tokenized infrastructure fund in the United States to be open to non-certified investors. The registered investment company will acquire direct positions and secondary interests, covering infrastructure assets such as data centers (serving AI companies), energy pipelines and transportation hubs. Although fund shares are generally less liquid, the company is expected to offer the option to sell quarterly. This move reflects the development trend of online capital raising platforms, namely expanding from early stage investment to a wider asset class to meet the needs of retail investors.

Dubai launches real estate tokenization pilot with targeting $16 billion

in 2033

The Dubai Land Bureau (DLD) has launched the pilot phase of the "Real Estate Tokenization Project", becoming the first registration agency in the Middle East to implement blockchain-based real estate property rights tokenization.

The project is part of Dubai's Real Estate Industry Strategy 2033 and Real Estate Innovation Program (REES), jointly implemented by Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) and the Dubai Future Foundation (DFF) through SandBox Real Estate. The project is expected to have a market value of over US$16 billion by 2033, accounting for 7% of the total real estate transactions in Dubai.

This progress comes as the UAE continues to rise in attention to asset tokenization, including DAMAC Group and MantraChain’s announcement of plans to tokenize $1 billion in assets.

Fidelity increases its investment in RWA track and launches its tokenized

money market fund "OnChain" stock category

Fidelity applied to register for the "OnChain" stock category for its tokenized dollar money market fund Fidelity Treasury Digital Fund (FYHXX), which was launched late last year and holds cash and Treasury securities. According to relevant document information, the FYHXX Fund's "OnChain" category shows that it currently uses the Ethereum network and may expand to other blockchains in the future. This registration must be approved by regulatory authorities and is expected to take effect on May 30.

BlackRock's BUIDL fund exceeds $1 billion in asset management, has

expanded to Solana

On March 14, BlackRock's BUIDL fund exceeded US$1 billion in asset management, becoming the first institutional-level on-chain fund to reach this milestone. BUIDL is backed by short-term Treasury bonds and provides daily income to qualified investors, similar to the on-chain stablecoin.

Since its launch in March 2024, BUIDL has surpassed Franklin Templeton's BENJI and Hashnote's USYC to become the world's largest on-chain fund, accounting for about a quarter of the entire $4.2 billion on-chain treasury bond market. BUIDL runs on the Ethereum main network and extends to Aptos, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Optimism and Polygon, supporting cross-chain Wormhole bridging. The custodians include Anchorage Digital, BitGo, Copper and Fireblocks, and the settlement of funds is under the responsibility of Bank of New York Mellon. BlackRock is accelerating its Web3 layout and providing institutional-level crypto asset management services through Coinbase.

On March 25, BlackRock announced a partnership with Securities to expand its blockchain-based money market fund BUIDL to Solana. In addition to continuously expanding its BUIDL business, BlackRock is also increasingly involved in the cryptocurrency market.

Conclusion

At present, BlackRock's BUIDL fund has exceeded US$1 billion in asset management, becoming a landmark event in the RWA track in the recent past. From public chain construction, tokenized funds, innovation in real estate and credit markets, to the implementation of national projects such as Dubai, RWA is becoming one of the hottest areas in the crypto industry. With the continuous influx of institutional funds and the improvement of infrastructure, RWA is expected to further expand its influence in the crypto market and even the global financial system in the future. The subsequent trends and trends are worth looking forward to.