Author: Top.one

Published on: May 28, 2025

1. The Wind is Rising Again: Why is RWA Being Hotly Discussed Again?

If you've recently browsed Twitter in the crypto space or domestic video platforms, you can't avoid a term: RWA (Real World Assets). Whether it's Wall Street giant BlackRock putting government bonds on-chain, or MakerDAO planning to expand asset management into the "real economy," RWA seems to have become a bridge between the blockchain world and traditional finance, with some even calling it "the asset base of the next generation of DeFi."

But this isn't the first time RWA has been hailed as the "future." As early as 2019, projects in the space attempted to "bring assets like real estate, metals, and artworks on-chain," but they always fell short of expectations. What is different about today's wave of enthusiasm? Can RWA truly take root and become a new growth engine for the crypto industry?

Top.one attempts to deconstruct the current development status of RWA from three dimensions: technical architecture, real-world dilemmas, and compliance challenges, and proposes thoughts on its future evolution direction.

2. RWA is Not a New Concept, But Finally Has a "Mature Market Background"

Tokenization of real assets can be simply understood as "using blockchain technology to represent rights or values in the traditional world," such as turning U.S. Treasury bonds, real estate, or accounts receivable into on-chain tokens that can be traded, staked, or used in DeFi.

However, for this vision to materialize, two key conditions must be met:

1. The underlying building blocks of on-chain finance are mature enough: The infrastructure in the DeFi space has gone through several bull and bear markets, forming a relatively complete modular system, including decentralized trading, lending, stablecoins, and asset management, providing a combinable "playground" for RWA.

2. Proactive engagement from mainstream financial institutions: It is no longer just Web3 projects "imagining reality," but real TradFi players starting to experiment with "on-chain asset management."

From this perspective, today's RWA is no longer an "imagined future," but has reached a development critical point characterized by "technical feasibility + real scenarios + regulatory transition."

3. Bringing Real Assets On-Chain: Three Core Challenges That Cannot Be Ignored

1. Technical Aspects: Data Credibility and Asset Controllability

Pain Point 1: Off-chain asset data is hard to verify.
The "authenticity" of assets like real estate, debt, and metals heavily relies on information from the off-chain world. On-chain systems inherently distrust external data, requiring oracles or trusted bridging solutions. Currently, both Chainlink's oracle network and Ethereum Layer 2 + zk series solutions are addressing this issue.

Pain Point 2: Complex asset lifecycle management.
For example, once an accounts receivable is on-chain, it involves various dynamic operations such as debt transfer, default, and early repayment. How to synchronize off-chain progress and update on-chain status still requires a well-defined "off-chain collaboration standard" and smart contract framework.

2. Legal Compliance: Regulatory Frameworks Are Still Uncertain, Cross-Border Issues Are Even Harder to Tackle

The U.S. is the most active and critical battleground for regulation.
Currently, the U.S. is promoting a "stablecoin + RWA" combination path, with participants like Circle and BlackRock focusing on the on-chainization of dollar-denominated bonds. Meanwhile, countries like China, the EU, and Singapore have also introduced regulatory frameworks for "tokenized securities" or "compliant issuance."

However, the problem is that RWA involves the entire chain of asset issuance, custody, circulation, and settlement, with each link potentially involving legal liability issues. If "the equivalence of on-chain rights and real-world ownership" cannot be clearly defined, then RWA is unlikely to become a widely accepted asset class.

Additionally, cross-border issuance and trading involve complex foreign exchange controls and securities regulations, posing significant challenges for most project teams.

3. Business Model: Asset On-Chain ≠ Liquidity Revolution

Even if the technology is in place and compliance is sorted, RWA projects still face a fundamental question: Who will pay for it?

Many projects hope to "bring TradFi users on-chain," but the reality is—
Traditional users do not need blockchain; they are more accustomed to compliant, efficient, and secure traditional financial channels. Meanwhile, the acceptance of RWA by native on-chain users is limited by "asset liquidity, yield, and transparency."

For example: Putting a Dubai apartment on-chain is not difficult; the challenge is how to ensure that someone is willing to hold this asset long-term or trade it quickly in the secondary market.

This directly points to the core value of RWA not being "the asset itself," but rather "whether it can provide stable cash flow and credit anchoring on-chain."

4. Future Trend Speculation: RWA Will Move Towards "Standardization" and "Asset-as-a-Service"

1. Moving Towards Standardization: From "Project-Based" to "Protocol Layer Assets"

Currently, most RWA projects are "packaged individual assets," lacking a unified interface and having poor composability. However, the industry is likely to give rise to a batch of on-chain asset issuance and management standards (RWA-20?) similar to ERC20 stablecoins in the future.

These standards will provide "modular asset custody capabilities" from dimensions such as on-chain ledgers, security mechanisms, and rights structures, opening up new asset sources for DeFi protocols.

2. Asset-as-a-Service: Financial Institutions Will Become On-Chain "Asset API Providers"

In the future, on-chain asset issuance may be handled by professional financial institutions responsible for asset selection, risk control, and legal packaging, then integrated into DeFi protocols via "compliant APIs."

This will mark the beginning of a deep integration between traditional finance and Web3. What you purchase on-chain may be a "customized dollar treasury liquidity portfolio" provided by firms like BlackRock or JPMorgan, while the underlying transactions still occur off-chain, with only a mapping certificate presented on-chain.

5. Final Thoughts: RWA is the "New Narrative" of the Next Stop, But Not a "Cure-All"

Every bull market comes with an "asset narrative": the last one was liquidity mining and stablecoins, and this time, it is likely RWA. It prompts the on-chain world to seriously consider: how to bring the credit system of the real world into the crypto system?

However, we should not fantasize that RWA is the cure for all problems.

It still faces the complexities of the traditional world, uncertain regulations, and the difficulty of building trust networks. But precisely because it is challenging, it is worth pursuing.

If you are an investor, developer, or entrepreneur, RWA deserves your serious study. It may be the first step for us to stand on-chain and look towards the real world.