Author: IntoTheBlock Translation: Shan Oppa, Golden Finance

While real-world asset tokenization dates back to the 1990s, it was only in 2023 that the industry experienced significant growth. In this article, we explore the current state of RWA in DeFi through on-chain metrics.

Real World Assets (RWA) are designed to harness the benefits and assets of the real economy and bring them into DeFi, leveraging their inherent interoperability. 2023 marked significant progress, with projects successfully integrating U.S. Treasury yields into DeFi through the creation of stablecoins.

Such innovation has resulted in the total value locked in RWA protocols exceeding $2.6B, nearly equal to the $2.87B total market cap of the top RWA protocols. Currently, the RWA ecosystem is highly successful with over 127,000 RWA protocol token holders.

MakerDAO’s strategic diversification

MakerDAO strategically Effectively diversified income. The move not only enhanced the stability of its revenue stream, generating over $100 million in annualized revenue, but also improved the risk profile of its mortgage assets. This strategy reflects MakerDAO’s commitment to integrating traditional financial elements to enhance the sustainability of the DAI stablecoin.

It is this strategy that has driven MKR’s positive price action, leading annual returns among the top RWA protocols. Unsurprisingly, MKR tops the list in terms of average trading volume, with average daily trading volume reaching $94.5 million in the second week of January.

While other assets in the category cannot currently compete with MKR's trading volume, there is still significant trading volume, with USDM reaching a high of $34 million in December .

Mountain Protocol excels in TVL growth

Mountain Protocol leverages its unique earnings stability Coin USDM, an ERC20 token backed by short-term U.S. Treasury bonds, has become a well-known entity in the DeFi space.

Mountain Protocol has seen significant growth, reaching $150 million in TVL, a 400% increase in the last month alone. This makes it the second largest RWA DeFi protocol after MakerDAO.

Analyzing RWA Protocol Holders

Drilling deeper into specific RWA protocol tokens, we can observe to more significant tokens. An analysis of the profitability of holders of various RWA tokens reveals a diverse picture. MKR stands out with a solid 75% of address profitability.

In contrast, tokens such as TNGBL and GFI have lower profitability, with holders’ profitability being 12.2% and 33% respectively.

TNGBL has the most "Diamond Hands"

The "Hodlers" ratio indicator represents holdings of specific The proportion of addresses with a token that is at least one year old is a key indicator of long-term investment confidence and underlying market stability. A large number of holders indicates a strong belief in the future value of the token and also means a more stable market, as these people are less likely to react to short-term market changes. In the RWA ecosystem, TNGBL stands out with a Hodler ratio of over 90%.

The future of RWA in DeFi

The integration of RWA and DeFi brings new opportunities to the cryptocurrency field Incredible value. Data analyzed from various RWA protocols demonstrates an exciting and growing ecosystem. Pioneers like MakerDAO seamlessly integrate traditional financial instruments like U.S. Treasuries into DeFi protocols, while the rapid growth of protocols like Mountain Protocol highlights the value and potential of the space.