Tokenised equities see fastest holder growth on blockchain

Tokenised equities have become the fastest-growing segment of on-chain real-world assets when measured by holder count, even though they remain the smallest segment by total value.

Scale versus market size

The blockchain now hosts roughly $2.2 billion of equity exposure, while the global equity market exceeds $100 trillion. The gap shows that tokenisation is still early, but growth metrics matter.

A tokenised asset represents a claim on a conventional share, Treasury fund or gold holding, issued as a transferable token on a public ledger. The functional shift occurs when the claim can move without returning to the original issuer.

Usage outpaces crypto-wide contraction

Between Q2 2025 and Q2 2026, total crypto-asset deposits fell about 15%, reflecting withdrawals and lower prices. In the same period, deposits of real-world assets on lending platforms and decentralized exchanges rose from $2.3 billion to $7.4 billion.

On spot decentralized exchanges, crypto-native trading volume dropped roughly 70%, while real-world asset spot volume increased about 220% from a modest base. The contrast indicates a niche that expands as broader crypto activity recedes.

The pattern suggests the asset class can grow independently of the surrounding crypto cycle, driven by factors beyond market sentiment.

Holder growth driven by lower entry barriers

Tokenised equities have outpaced institutional products in holder growth over the past year. Smaller minimum investments allow a broader set of participants, expanding the holder base even when per-holder capital stays limited.

Average wallet balance—total assets under management divided by on-chain holders—highlights the split. Products issued through xStocks show balances consistent with retail participation, whereas BlackRock’s BUIDL records average balances in the tens of millions of dollars.

Institutional capital tends to concentrate in collateral that yields returns. Current on-chain yields range from about 3.2% to 5.5%, with Treasury-linked funds at the lower end and private-credit or vault strategies at the higher end.

Investors therefore favor venues that keep collateral earning while supporting borrowing. Platforms such as Aave, Morpho and Kamino host nearly 70% of real-world asset deposits, most of them built on Ethereum.

Revenue capture by these venues remains limited. Application revenues fell year over year for both lending and trading services, reflecting the still-small scale of real-world asset activity compared with crypto-native markets.

Hyperliquid generates substantially more application revenue than any other venue, benefiting from derivative economics where frequent trading translates into recurring fees. Morpho, the second-largest lending platform, currently operates without a protocol-level take rate.

Trading platforms exhibit the highest revenue multiples relative to fully diluted market capitalisation, a metric that prices capital velocity and operating leverage similarly to public equity exchanges.

The situation resembles the early stage of USD stablecoins in 2019: a small share of the addressable market, rapid growth, and reliance on infrastructure still under development.

Unlike 2019, the data now resides on-chain and is auditable, letting advisors monitor trends directly.

The full CoinShares and Token Terminal analysis can be read on the official website.