Tokenized commodities and equities now top $7b as gold-backed tokens lead a 600% RWA surge into live, onchain collateral.
Summary
- Tokenized commodities and equities have climbed above $7 billion in value.
- Gold-backed tokens like Tether Gold dominate, but oil, gas and agri RWAs are accelerating.
- On‑chain commodities are increasingly used as collateral with real‑time, transparent settlement.
The market for tokenized commodities has surged to roughly $7 billion, rising nearly 600% since early 2025 as real‑world assets move from pilot projects to live collateral on public blockchains, according to a new Bitfinex report summarized by ChainCatcher. Bitfinex argues that the “main shift is infrastructure” as on‑chain commodities are used in lending, trading and treasury operations with “real‑time transfer, global auditability, and improved transparency” compared with traditional settlement rails.
Gold remains the dominant category, with Tether Gold (XAUt) holding around 40% of the tokenized commodities segment by market value, positioning it as the key benchmark for tokenized bullion. Tether itself has said XAUt now accounts for “more than half the entire gold‑backed stablecoin market,” with over $4 billion in supply as institutional demand for tokenized safe‑haven assets accelerates.
Bitfinex’s analysis points to a broadening product mix beyond precious metals, with oil, natural gas and agricultural products quickly gaining share. Tokenized soybeans and soybean oil each now represent about $400 million of the market, while green‑finance related commodities and credits total roughly $850 million in value, reflecting how climate‑linked RWAs are being structured directly on‑chain.
Bitfinex frames tokenized commodities as a new collateral layer for both centralized venues and DeFi protocols, where 24/7 settlement and instant finality reduce counterparty risk and margin gaps. “Over $25bn in real‑world assets (RWAs) have been tokenised, and most of it sits idle, earning nothing,” the exchange wrote in a separate note, adding that the opportunity is to plug these tokens into lending, derivatives and structured products rather than treat them as static wrappers.
Crypto exchanges and RWA specialists have also highlighted how tokenized commodities now sit alongside tokenized Treasuries and credit in a broader market that has surpassed $20‑25 billion in on‑chain value. In prior crypto.news coverage of institutional RWA tokenization and the stablecoin market, tokenized assets were described as “the new backbone of finance” as banks and asset managers push into tokenized Treasuries, commodities and private credit.
That trend is reinforced by stablecoin growth: the global stablecoin market cap recently hit an all‑time high above $315 billion, led by Tether’s USDT at roughly $184 billion and USD Coin (USDC) at about $79 billion, providing the liquidity rails that settle many RWA trades. As one earlier crypto.news story noted, regulated stablecoins and tokenized RWAs are increasingly converging into “the settlement layer for tokenized treasuries and other on‑chain assets,” turning commodities from niche experiments into core financial plumbing.
