Grow into a $2 trillion market…scramble to advance to the RWA

Real Linked Assets Considered the Next Generation Food in the Investment Industry
McKinsey Expects $2 Trillion Market Value in 2030
After entering the RWA business such as Creder and Neofin

This article has been translated into English through AI.

[E-Daily Marketin Reporter Kim Yeon-seo] Recently, Korean companies are entering the real-linked asset (RWA) business, which is considered the next generation food of the financial investment industry. RWA refers to an asset that is tokenized using blockchain technology. Various assets such as currency, commodities, carbon credits, real estate, stocks, bonds, art, and intellectual property rights (IP) can be tokenized and traded through blockchain.

According to global consulting firm McKinsey & Company (hereinafter referred to as McKinsey), RWA’s market size is expected to exceed USD 2 trillion (about KRW 2782 trillion) by 2030. Token securities are literally regulated by financial authorities because they are securities, but RWA has a strong decentralized nature and a comprehensive character in that it tokens various rights related to all real assets, including securities.

McKinsey predicted that △ mutual funds △ bonds △ exchange-traded bonds (ETN) △ repo △ alternative funds △ token loans and securitization will be the growth engines of the RWA market. Analysts say that tokenization of assets such as real estate, commodities and stocks will be slower than expected. McKinsey also pointed out that complex compliance requirements and concerns about feasibility could hinder the pace of tokenization development of real estate, products and stocks.

RWA operators in Korea include RWA developer Creder and decentralized financial platform Neofin. Founded in 2022, Creder is a joint venture established by digital transformation (DX) company Itisen and blockchain company BPMG. It runs an RWA tokenization business based on real gold. Since the beginning of this year, it has been operating a DeFi (DeFi) platform gold station.

Creder has been aggressively expanding its position since the beginning of the platform launch. It has collaborated with various companies such as Galaxy Metaverse, Clayton Foundation, and CleanX. In June, it held a “RWA Showcase” with the Malaysian digital asset exchange GreenX in Korea and introduced ceramics and artworks subject to tokenization.

According to CREDER, GreenX launched “Woodygau” (Dignity Gold), a gold mining token, on CREDER Gold Station in June. The product is currently available for trading through GreenX and Gold Station. In the future, RWA, such as rare earths and ceramics, which are currently traded on GreenX, will also be traded on Gold Station.

Starting with the launch of RWA-based DeFi products, Neopin plans to accelerate its efforts to tap into related markets by introducing various RWA products within this year. Recently, it recently took its first step into the RWA market by launching a ‘RWA-based multi-deFi product’.

The product will allow Global Depi MakerDAO to conveniently invest in RWA Token SDAI, which was issued as collateral for short-term U.S. government bonds, USDe, a stable coin issued by Etena Labs, and Curve Finance. In addition, Neofin is striving to diversify financial investment channels by linking various real assets, such as signing a business agreement with the Clayton Foundation related to tokenization of ship-related assets.

The virtual asset industry is expecting the growth of the domestic market as it considers RWA as the next-generation protagonist to lead the blockchain. “RWA, unlike token securities, has a higher growth potential because it is a comprehensive concept that includes all assets that do not have securities,” an industry source said. “There is also an expectation that the Busan Digital Asset Exchange will become the center of ST and RWA transactions.”