Tokenization could push DeFi assets to $2.7T by 2030: Standard Chartered

Standard Chartered projects that assets locked in decentralized finance will expand 37-fold to reach $2.7 trillion by 2030. This growth is expected to be fueled by the integration of tokenized real-world assets and crypto-native assets into onchain protocols. Currently, only 3% of stablecoins and 10% of tokenized RWAs are utilized within DeFi, but the bank anticipates this share will rise to 30% by the end of the decade. Geoff Kendrick, head of digital assets research, identifies DeFi protocols as a primary driver for future generational wealth in the digital asset space. While the bank previously forecasted non-stablecoin tokenized RWAs to hit $2 trillion by 2028, achieving the $2.7 trillion DeFi target requires a ninefold increase in the proportion of tokenized value deployed onchain. The report highlights Uniswap as a potential key trading venue for these assets due to its established scale and reliability. However, industry experts caution that tokenization alone does not guarantee liquidity, noting that fragmented blockchain formats could lead to siloed markets and pricing inefficiencies.