TechFlow News, February 20: According to a Decrypt report, despite the overall weakness in the cryptocurrency market, the value of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) rose 8.7% over the past month to $24.8 billion, while the total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (DeFi) fell 25% to $94.8 billion during the same period.
Per data from RWA.xyz, the distributed asset values of tokenized U.S. Treasury securities, commodities, and private credit grew by 10%, 20%, and 15%, reaching $10.7 billion, $6.9 billion, and $2.9 billion, respectively.
Sergej Kunz, co-founder of 1inch, told Decrypt that this divergence reflects capital rotation within the crypto ecosystem—not an exodus. He noted: “DeFi yields are compressed, whereas tokenized Treasuries offer a 4% on-chain return with minimal risk. People aren’t leaving the space—they’re entering it in a slightly lower-risk manner.” Rico van der Veen, CEO of Programmable Credit Protocol, believes RWA protocols deliver enforceable rights, regulatory clarity, and cash flow independent of token issuance—features DeFi cannot provide.
