Standard Chartered: RWA tokenization to boost DeFi TVL 37x to $2.7T by 2030

Geoff Kendrick, Head of Digital Asset Research at Standard Chartered, predicts that the total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (DeFi) will reach $2.7 trillion by the end of 2030, a 37-fold increase from current levels, Cointelegraph reported. This growth is expected to be driven by the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) and the expansion of crypto-native assets. Kendrick suggested that the next opportunity for generational wealth creation in the digital asset market will emerge from DeFi protocols. He analyzed that while only 3% of stablecoins and 10% of tokenized RWAs—about 3.5% overall—are currently utilized within the DeFi ecosystem, this share is projected to surge nearly nine-fold to 30% by 2030, fueling explosive market growth. He identified Uniswap as a key hub for trading these tokenized assets. However, some industry figures expressed caution. Chris Kim, CEO of Axis, pointed out that issuing RWAs across multiple blockchains and standards could fragment liquidity, increasing trading costs and creating price discrepancies. Similarly, Oya Celiktemur, EMEA Sales Director at Ondo Finance, noted that simply tokenizing illiquid assets does not magically create liquidity.