DeFi Could Reach $2.7T as Tokenization Expands: StanChart

Standard Chartered expects assets locked in decentralized finance (DeFi) to grow 37-fold to $2.7 trillion by the end of 2030.

The expansion would be driven by both tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) and crypto-native assets moving through onchain protocols, Geoff Kendrick, head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered, said in a research note on Monday. 

“I think the next opportunity for generational wealth in digital assets is going to come via the DeFi protocols,” Kendrick said. “I estimate that the amount of tokenized assets active in DeFi will 37x by the end of 2030.”

According to Kendrick, only 3% of stablecoins and 10% of tokenized RWAs are currently used in DeFi. He projected the share of tokenized assets used in DeFi to rise to 30% by the end of 2030, from about 3.5% today.

The forecast underscores growing institutional expectations that tokenization could channel more capital into DeFi. However, reaching $2.7 trillion would require onchain assets to grow rapidly and the share of tokenized value used in DeFi protocols to rise nearly ninefold.

Decentralized finance’s total value locked. Source: DefiLlama

Standard Chartered previously forecast that non-stablecoin tokenized RWAs would grow to $2 trillion by the end of 2028, with tokenized money-market funds and US equities accounting for most of the projected market.

While Standard Chartered expects tokenized assets to drive significantly more activity into DeFi, some researchers have cautioned that tokenization does not guarantee deep or unified markets. 

Axis CEO Chris Kim previously told Cointelegraph that issuing the same asset across multiple blockchains and formats can create siloed liquidity, pricing gaps and higher costs, limiting how easily tokenized assets can be traded even as their overall market value grows.

Oya Celiktemur, Ondo Finance’s sales director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, also said at Paris Blockchain Week in April that tokenizing an illiquid asset does not “magically” make it liquid. 

Uniswap seen as a potential hub for tokenized markets

Kendrick said Uniswap could emerge as a key trading venue as more tokenized assets move onchain. He highlighted the decentralized exchange’s scale, brand and history of operating through multiple crypto cycles. 

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Kendrick added that those attributes could be particularly important to traditional financial institutions, which are likely to prioritize security and reliability when bringing tokenized RWAs to DeFi. 

“If Uniswap can commercialise enough and create significant enough TradFi partnerships to scale, its market cap-to transaction fees multiple is likely to increase, narrowing the gap with Coinbase,” he wrote. 

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