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

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 real-world assets (RWA) on the chain has reached $19.53 billion, an increase of 19.58% in the past 30 days. Compared with $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%. In terms of the total value of RWA on the blockchain network, Ethereum ranks first with a total value of $5.01 billion, followed by ZKsync Era ($672 million) and Algorand ($473 million).

Recently, the RWA track has seen a number of key developments, covering areas such as public chain innovation, tokenization competition, mortgage-backed securities market, and real estate tokenization. In this article, PANews will briefly sort out and introduce these developments.

Ethena and Securitize launch new public chain Converge, scheduled to go online in Q2

Converge is a traditional financial and digital dollar settlement network driven by Ethena Labs and Securitize. Its vision is to provide the first settlement layer designed specifically for the integration of TradFi and DeFi, with USDe and USDtb at its core and security provided by ENA.

The blockchain is believed to have two core application scenarios:

1. Used for permissionless settlement of spot and leveraged DeFi speculation;
2. Storage and settlement of stablecoins and tokenized assets.

Securitize will deploy its core future tokenized asset issuance layer on Converge. This will go beyond tokenized treasury products and funds to cover securities in all asset classes. Ethena will launch its core products USDe, USDtb and iUSDe and issue them natively.

Applications will be built on Converge specifically to enable traditional finance to interact on-chain with iUSDe, USDe, and Securitize-backed assets.

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

Aave Labs’ Horizon : Bridging traditional finance and DeFi through a marketplace designed for Securitize tokenized assets, including Ethena’s institutional-grade iUSDe;

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

Morpho Labs: Modular money markets for Ethena and Securitize assets.

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

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

Sky's $1 billion asset tokenization competition announced, BlackRock, Superstate, Centrifuge win

On March 18, BlackRock-Securitize, Superstate, and Centrifuge’s tokenized Treasury products were selected as winners of the Spark Tokenization Grand Prix, an event initiated by Sky (formerly MakerDAO) to bring up to $1 billion in tokenized assets to the Spark Liquidity Layer.

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

Sky’s plan aims to diversify Spark’s portfolio and accelerate the tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs). These assets will be included as collateral for Sky’s native stablecoin USDS and yield-based stablecoin sUSDS, subject to approval by Sky’s governance.

DigiFT launches two on-chain tokenized index funds covering AI leading stocks and crypto assets

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

The first products include:

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

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

Earlier on February 19, DigiFT announced that it would provide a tokenized version of Invesco’s $6.3 billion private credit fund. The product allows institutional investors to purchase tokenized fund shares using USD, USDC or USDT. Since its inception in 2006, the fund has achieved an average annual net return of 4.5% and invests in corporate priority secured loans.

Figure Advances On-Chain Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS) Market

Figure Technology Solutions currently accounts for nearly 80% of the tokenized private credit market, according to rwa.xyz, and is revolutionizing the Mortgage 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 its use of the Figure Connect loan marketplace, which was launched in June 2024.

The loan marketplace automates lending on the Provenance blockchain, enabling homeowners to get approved for a home equity line of credit (HELOC) in minutes and receive funding in 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 facility for Figure loans and create a liquid market.

Republic and Hamilton Lane Launch Tokenized Private Infrastructure Fund 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 “perpetual” tokenized infrastructure fund in the U.S. open to non-accredited investors. The registered investment company will acquire direct positions and secondary interests in infrastructure assets such as data centers (serving AI companies), energy pipelines and transportation hubs. Although fund units are generally illiquid, the company expects to offer the option of selling them quarterly. The move reflects the trend of online capital raising platforms expanding beyond early-stage investments to a wider range of asset classes to meet the needs of retail investors.

Dubai launches real estate tokenization pilot, with a target of $16 billion by 2033

Dubai Land Department (DLD) has launched the pilot phase of its “Real Estate Tokenization Project”, becoming the first registry in the Middle East to implement blockchain-based real estate title tokenization.

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

The development comes as interest in asset tokenization continues to grow in the UAE, including DAMAC Group and MantraChain announcing plans to tokenize $1 billion in assets.

Fidelity adds to RWA track, launching "OnChain" share category of its tokenized money market fund

According to a document submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on March 21, Fidelity applied for registration of the "OnChain" stock category for its tokenized U.S. dollar money market fund Fidelity Treasury Digital Fund (FYHXX), which was launched at the end of last year and holds cash and U.S. Treasury securities. According to relevant document information, the "OnChain" category of the FYHXX fund shows that it currently uses the Ethereum network and may be expanded to other blockchains in the future. This registration is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to take effect on May 30.

BlackRock’s BUIDL Fund Surpasses $1 Billion in AUM, Expands to Solana

On March 14, BlackRock's BUIDL fund exceeded $1 billion in assets under management, becoming the first institutional-level on-chain fund to reach this milestone. BUIDL is backed by short-term government bonds and provides daily returns to qualified investors, similar to an 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 mainnet and has expanded to Aptos, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Optimism and Polygon, supporting cross-chain Wormhole bridging. Custodians include Anchorage Digital, BitGo, Copper and Fireblocks, and funds are settled by Bank of New York Mellon. BlackRock is accelerating its Web3 layout and providing institutional-grade crypto asset management services through Coinbase.

On March 25, BlackRock announced a partnership with Securitize to expand its blockchain-based money market fund BUIDL to Solana. In addition to BlackRock’s continued expansion of its BUIDL business, the asset management company is also increasingly involved in the cryptocurrency market.

Conclusion

At present, BlackRock's BUIDL fund has exceeded $1 billion in asset management, becoming a landmark event in the RWA track in recent years. From the construction of public chains, tokenized funds, innovations in the 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 dynamics are worth looking forward to.