The market for tokenized real-world assets has swelled to $51 billion, marking a 42% jump since the start of the year. Private credit is the engine behind most of that growth, with Figure, a key player in the sector, driving a large share of the activity.
Private credit takes the lead
Tokenized versions of assets like loans, bonds, and mortgages now represent the biggest chunk of the RWA market. Private credit — loans made outside the traditional banking system — has become the dominant category as firms look to put debt instruments on blockchain rails. Figure, which originated more than $5 billion in home-equity loans and then tokenized them, has been a central force in that expansion.
The company's model uses blockchain to speed up loan origination and settlement, cutting out layers of intermediaries. That efficiency has attracted both borrowers and investors, and the numbers bear it out: Figure's tokenized loan pool alone accounts for a significant slice of the overall $51 billion figure.
Why the 42% jump matters
The year-to-date increase is not just a rounding error. In dollar terms, the market has added roughly $15 billion in value since January. That pace of growth suggests that institutional investors are moving past pilot projects and into serious deployment of capital in tokenized assets. While crypto markets have seen their own ups and downs, the RWA sector has largely marched upward, insulated from the volatility of purely digital tokens.
Regulators in several jurisdictions are still working out how to classify and oversee these instruments. But the market's expansion shows that demand is outstripping the pace of rulemaking, at least for now.
Figure is not stopping with home-equity loans. The company has begun tokenizing other types of consumer credit and is exploring corporate debt as well. If those efforts gain traction, the $51 billion figure could look small by year-end.
Investors are watching whether other lenders follow Figure's playbook. The technology is not proprietary, but the scale advantage is real. Figure's ability to originate, tokenize, and distribute loans all in-house gives it a cost edge that smaller competitors lack.
The unresolved question is how secondary markets for these tokenized assets will develop. Right now, most trading happens through private placements or limited liquidity pools. Broader exchange listings could unlock another wave of growth — or raise new questions about price discovery and investor protection.
