RWAio says fragmented tokenized RWA markets waste up to $1.3 billion annually in fees and price differentials as assets spread across chains like Ethereum and Polygon.
Summary
- RWAio estimates that fragmentation costs cost the RWA markets between $600 million and $1.3 billion annually, through fees, slippage and price differentials.
- Identical RWAs trade 1% to 3% apart across chains and cost 2% to 5% to bridge, which hurts investor returns.
- Ethereum holds 52% of tokenized RWAs, while Polygon leads bonds with 62%, underscoring the operational friction between multiple chains.
According to research from data analytics platform RWAio, the fragmentation of blockchain networks costs the tokenized real-world asset market between $600 million and $1.3 billion per year.
The report, compiled with input from 17 companies including Coinbase, Franklin Templeton and Polygon, identified significant inefficiencies in the market caused by the distribution of assets across multiple blockchain networks, RWAio said.
RWAio DeFi and cryptocurrency
The total value of tokenized real-world assets in circulation has reached more than $36 billion, including private credit, U.S. government bonds and commodities, according to the study.
RWAio found that identical assets often trade at different prices on different blockchains, with price differences ranging from 1% to 3%. The platform also reported that transferring assets between chains costs investors between 2% and 5% per transaction due to fees and slippage.
Ethereum owns 52% of all tokenized real-world asset value, while Polygon accounts for 62% of tokenized bonds, the data shows.
The findings highlight the operational challenges facing the growing tokenized asset sector as traditional financial instruments increasingly migrate to blockchain infrastructure.
