According to digital asset data tracker CoinGecko, tokenized treasuries in the United States experienced a significant growth spurt of 641% in 2023, with traditional finance companies onboard. CoinGecko’s 2024 report titled “Rise of Real World Assets in Crypto” highlighted the progress in tokenization of real-world assets (RWA). The report revealed that tokenized treasuries went from $114 million in January 2023 to $845 million by the end of the year, indicating a remarkable growth of blockchain-based digital tokens representing U.S. Treasury securities within a year.
Tokenized securities are digital tokens backed by real-world assets like stocks and bonds. For instance, the Ondo Short-Term US Government Bond Fund utilizes the OUSG token to represent ownership of a share of the fund and its yield.
CoinGecko emphasized that asset management firm Franklin Templeton is currently the largest issuer of tokenized treasuries, with $332 million worth of tokens issued through its On-Chain U.S. Government Money Fund, giving the company a 38.6% market control. Franklin Templeton is also one of the 10 exchange-traded fund (ETF) issuers that launched a Bitcoin ETF in the U.S. in January, and it has submitted an application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a Franklin Ethereum ETF.
In addition to Franklin Templeton, other protocols offering yield-bearing stablecoins backed by U.S. treasury bills are gaining popularity. CoinGecko highlighted Mountain Protocol’s USDM tokens, which have seen a significant increase from $26,000 to $154 million since their launch in September 2023.
Most tokenized U.S. treasuries are based on the Ethereum network, with 57.5% of the tokens being on Ethereum. However, companies like Franklin Templeton and WisdomTree Prime have issued tokenized securities on Stellar, giving the network a 39% market share.
While tokenized treasuries experienced explosive growth in 2023, the growth slowed down in 2024, with only a 1.9% increase in January. As of February 1, the market capitalization of tokenized treasuries stood at $861 million.
CoinGecko also highlighted that commodity-backed tokens have reached a market capitalization of $1.1 billion as of February 1. Tether Gold (XAUT) and PAX Gold (PAXG) dominate the market capitalization for tokenized precious metals, accounting for 83%.
Furthermore, a new project has emerged, aiming to tokenize uranium and enable the redemption of the precious metal through digital tokens.