RWA tokens hit hard: Sector loses $5B in mcap with 90% of tokens in decline, though a few like GRPO and EPIC outperform.
TL;DR…
- Markets plunge across the board: Stock indices enter bear territory while BTC drops 10.1%, dragging altcoins and crypto sentiment down with it.
- Tariffs spark chaos: Trump’s aggressive tariff regime triggers global retaliation, shaking investor confidence and spiking U.S. treasury yields.
- RWA tokens hit hard: Sector loses $5B in mcap with 90% of tokens in decline, though a few like GRPO and EPIC outperform.
- Long-term outlook holds promise: Despite bearish price action, major RWA developments from Apollo, Ripple, and Mantra suggest strong institutional momentum.
Many stock indices entered a bear market this week, while Bitcoin (BTC) and most other digital assets have been trending downwards for weeks, with most down year-to-date (YTD).
Unsurprisingly, this has knocked morale in the crypto space, crushed liquidity, and poured cold water on hopes for a bullish 2025.
Nonetheless, times like this often present the best risk/reward opportunities, should traders be brave enough (or still capitalized enough) to take them.
Here’s how the week unfolded for the RWA sector.
Market Overview
It’s safe to say that the market is not in a good position right now.
The economic turmoil is the direct result of the uncertainty caused by U.S. President Trump’s new tariff regime, which saw an avalanche of countries hit with severe export tariffs.
While many initially believed the high tariffs were just a negotiation tactic, few countries buckled under the pressure, and several announced equally abrasive counter-measures—including China hiking tariffs on U.S. goods to 84% earlier today.
This has dramatically shaken faith in the U.S., with significant U.S. Treasury note sell-offs sending yields soaring. Major sell-offs of U.S. stock indices, including the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite, wiped out months or years of gains.
As is common knowledge by now, the unabashedly volatile crypto market is still strongly correlated with U.S. stock indices and tends to follow them up or down with increased aggressiveness.
Source: Bitcoin (BTC) Coin Page
As a result, Bitcoin (BTC) lost 10.1% of its value over the past week, while the average altcoin is down even more.
The CMC Crypto Fear and Greed Index is now back into the extreme fear range of 15—marking its lowest value since recording began in June 2023.
Overall, things are looking bleak. However, positive trade negotiations between the U.S. and China could turn things around quickly.
RWA Market Recap
The RWA sector suffered a significant blow this week, with more than $5 billion wiped off its market capitalization (mcap) following a decline of 11.9%.
>> Click here to read last week’s RWA update.
Source: Top Real World Asset Tokens Page
The sector has now been in decline for over three months, and its mcap is now significantly lower across all short-term and medium-term timeframes (seven days, 30 days, three months, and one year).
There is devastation across the board, with over 90% of RWA tokens in a steep decline this week. Just a handful of tokens managed to stay in the green this week, with a select few putting on a serious show of strength.
Some of this week’s best performers include:
- GoldPro Token (GRPO): gained 46.2%
- Epic Chain (EPIC): gained 17.5%
- Reserve Rights (RSR): gained 2%
- Polyhedra Network (ZKJ): gained 0.5%
Now, onto the bad news. Dozens of RWA tokens suffered declines of over 20% this week. The worst affected include:
- LTO Network (LTO): lost 43.3%
- Parcl (PRCL): lost 37.2%
- Realio Network (RIO): lost 35.1%
- Chintai (CHEX): lost 30%
- Lumia (LUMIA): lost 24%
- Goldfinch (GFI): lost 20.8%
Despite the cataclysmic dump, the RWA token sector is still holding up better than most. According to DefiLlama's narrative tracker, which measures the mcap-weighted change of assets in each sector, the sector is ranked third out of 22 by mcap-weighted change, with a decline of 6.5%.
For comparison, the worst affected sector was the Data Availability sector, which saw a 21.8% mcap-weighted loss.
RWA News Roundup
Despite the bearish price action, the RWA sector has continued to make major strides behind the scenes, boding well for its future.
Some of the most significant updates for this week include:
Apollo Powers Plume’s RWA Tokenization Effort: Apollo Global Management’s significant investment in Plume supports its blockchain platform’s goal to tokenize real-world assets like bonds, commodities, and carbon credits, enhancing their use in crypto lending and trading while linking traditional finance with decentralized ecosystems.
Tokenized RWAs Forecasted To Reach $18.9 Trillion: A Ripple-BCG report estimates that the tokenized real-world asset market could reach $18.9 trillion by 2033, driven by blockchain’s ability to reduce costs, accelerate transaction settlements, and provide 24/7 liquidity, transforming how asset managers handle investments.
Mantra’s $108M Fund Spurs RWA Innovation: Mantra introduced a $108 million ecosystem fund to support startups tokenizing real-world assets and advancing DeFi applications, responding to demand for stable, asset-backed digital products and strengthening its layer-1 blockchain’s role in the growing RWA sector.
Staying Safe in This Market
Crypto’s volatility is a gift when times are good but a curse when times are bad. With that in mind, a few simple considerations can spell the difference between devastation and prosperity.
- Crypto markets are not (yet?) independent of the traditional economy. Significant adverse events will impact price, as will positive developments.
- Many exchanges (both centralized and decentralized) offer limit order capabilities, as well as automatic take-profit and stop-loss features. These can prove invaluable for locking in profits or minimizing losses.
- Narratives can and do change—most are transient, but others are more enduring. With that in mind, it’s important to reassess your holdings regularly to gauge if they have true strength or simply benefitted from a narrative pump.
>> That’s a wrap for this week’s RWA roundup. Join us next week for more RWA news and updates.
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