Standard Chartered estimates that by 2028, $4 trillion worth of assets will be represented as tokens on blockchains. They believe well-established DeFi (decentralized finance) platforms will see the biggest gains from this trend.
Summary
- Standard Chartered forecasts $4 trillion in tokenized assets by end-2028, split evenly between stablecoins and real-world assets.
- Mature DeFi protocols with strong risk metrics will capture the bulk of the throughput, the bank said.
- Passage of the CLARITY Act is viewed as the most significant near-term catalyst for the shift from traditional rails.
Standard Chartered estimates that by the end of 2028, $4 trillion worth of assets will be represented as digital tokens on blockchains. They predict this will be equally divided between stablecoins and tokens representing real-world assets like property or commodities, and that existing decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms are likely to benefit the most from this growth.
As an analyst here, I’ve been closely following the growth of DeFi, and one thing that really stands out is its composability. What that means is an asset can be used in multiple ways simultaneously – earning rewards, backing loans, and being traded – all without needing traditional middlemen like banks. It’s a pretty powerful concept.
BlackRock BUIDL anchors the thesis
Kendrick pointed to BlackRock’s BUIDL fund as a working example of how this can be done. This $2.85 billion fund holds tokenized U.S. Treasury bonds, earns interest from those bonds, and can be converted into sBUIDL to work with decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. It also acts as a key backing asset for the USDtb stablecoin from Ethena and the OUSG token from Ondo.
Aave, a leading platform for borrowing and lending digital currencies, once saw between $1.5 and $2 billion in stablecoin loans each day. Coinbase’s lending service, powered by Morpho, has also reached a significant $1.75 billion in outstanding loans.
CLARITY Act seen as key catalyst
Kendrick believes the CLARITY Act is a key factor that could quickly speed up the move from traditional finance to decentralized finance (DeFi). The bill passed the Senate Banking Committee on May 14th with a vote of 15 to 9 and will now be considered by the full Senate.
As a crypto investor, I’ve been following Kendrick’s predictions, and he’s now combined two of his forecasts. He believes stablecoins and Real World Assets (RWAs) will *both* reach a $2 trillion market size by the end of 2028. Even with some recent security issues in DeFi, the bank is still confident about the $2 trillion RWA target – they reiterated it just a few months ago.
DeFi seen as primary beneficiary
Currently, the vast majority of assets – about 1,000 times more – are held offchain compared to onchain. Kendrick predicts that bringing traditional, high-quality assets onto the blockchain (tokenization) will drive the most growth, and that protocols which can scale securely will be the biggest winners.
From my analysis, as traditional financial institutions start bringing their assets onto blockchains, I expect to see them prioritize established platforms with proven risk management. Specifically, I believe Aave, Compound, and Morpho are well-positioned to be leaders in this space, and Ethereum will likely remain the primary blockchain for these transactions.
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2026-05-18 21:38