Institutional-level RWA Infrastructure 2026 Panorama: Five Major Agreements Restructuring a $20 Billion Market

Original Author: ++Mesh++

Original Compilation: Deep Tide TechFlow

Honestly, the development of institutional-grade RWA (Real World Asset) tokenization over the past six months is worth a deep dive. The market size is approaching $20 billion. This is not hype; real institutional capital is being deployed on-chain.

I have been following this space for a while, and the recent pace of development is astonishing. From government bonds and private credit to tokenized stocks, these assets are moving to blockchain infrastructure faster than the market expected.

Currently, there are five protocols that have become the foundation of this space: Rayls Labs, Ondo Finance, Centrifuge, Canton Network, and Polymesh. They are not competing for the same type of clients but are targeting different needs of institutions: banks need privacy, asset management firms seek efficiency, and Wall Street firms demand compliance infrastructure.

This is not about who "wins," but about which infrastructure institutions choose and how traditional assets can achieve the migration of trillions of dollars through these tools.

The Overlooked Market Approaches $20 Billion

Three years ago, tokenized RWA was hardly considered a category. Today, the on-chain deployed assets of government bonds, private credit, and public stocks are nearing $20 billion. This growth is significant compared to the $6 billion to $8 billion range at the beginning of 2024.

To be honest, the performance of the sub-markets is more interesting than the total size.

According to a market snapshot provided by rwa.xyz at the beginning of January 2026:

• Government Bonds and Money Market Funds: Approximately $8 billion to $9 billion, accounting for 45%-50% of the market
• Private Credit: $2 billion to $6 billion (small base but fastest growth, accounting for 20%-30%)
• Public Stocks: Over $400 million (rapid growth, primarily driven by Ondo Finance)

Three Major Drivers Accelerating RWA Adoption:

1. Attraction of Yield Arbitrage: Tokenized government bond products offer a return of 4%-6% and support 24/7 access, while traditional markets have a T+2 settlement cycle. Private credit tools provide returns of 8%-12%. This is an easy calculation for institutional CFOs managing billions in idle capital.
2. Gradual Improvement of Regulatory Frameworks: The EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation has been enforced across 27 countries. The SEC's "Project Crypto" is advancing an on-chain securities framework. Meanwhile, No-Action Letters allow infrastructure providers like DTCC to tokenize assets.
3. Maturity of Custody and Oracle Infrastructure: Chronicle Labs has processed over $20 billion in total locked value, and Halborn has completed security audits for major RWA protocols. These infrastructures are mature enough to meet fiduciary standards.

Despite this, the industry still faces significant challenges. The cost of cross-chain transactions is estimated to reach $1.3 billion annually. Due to high capital flow costs exceeding arbitrage yields, the price difference for the same asset across different blockchains reaches 1%-3%. The conflict between privacy needs and regulatory transparency requirements remains unresolved.

Rayls Labs: The Privacy Infrastructure Banks Truly Need

++@RaylsLabs++ positions itself as a compliance-first bridge connecting banks with decentralized finance (DeFi). Developed by the Brazilian fintech company Parfin and supported by Framework Ventures, ParaFi Capital, Valor Capital, and Alexia Ventures, its architecture is a public permissioned, EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain designed specifically for regulated entities.

I have been following the development of its Enygma privacy tech stack for some time. The key is not the technical specifications but its methodology. Rayls is addressing the real needs of banks rather than catering to the DeFi community's imagination of banking needs.

Core Features of the Enygma Privacy Tech Stack:

• Zero-Knowledge Proofs: Ensures transaction confidentiality
• Homomorphic Encryption: Supports computation on encrypted data
• Native Operations Across Public Chains and Private Institutional Networks
• Confidential Payments: Supports atomic swaps and embedded Delivery-versus-Payment (DvP)
• Programmable Compliance: Selectively discloses data to designated auditors

Real-World Use Cases:

• Brazilian Central Bank: Used for CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) cross-border settlement pilot
• Núclea: Regulated accounts receivable tokenization
• Multiple Unannounced Node Clients: Used for privatized payment delivery (DvP) workflows

Latest Developments

On January 8, 2026, Rayls announced the completion of a security audit conducted by Halborn. This provides institutional-grade security certification for its real-world asset (RWA) infrastructure, which is particularly important for banks evaluating production deployment.

Additionally, the AmFi Alliance plans to achieve a target of $1 billion in tokenized assets on Rayls by June 2027, supported by a reward of 5 million RLS tokens. AmFi is Brazil's largest private credit tokenization platform, bringing immediate trading volume to Rayls and setting a specific milestone over 18 months. This is one of the largest commitments to institutional RWA obtained by any blockchain ecosystem to date.

Target Market and Challenges

Rayls' target clients are banks, central banks, and asset management firms that require institutional-grade privacy. Its public permissioned model restricts validator participation to licensed financial institutions while ensuring transaction data confidentiality.

However, the challenge for Rayls lies in proving its market appeal. In the absence of publicly available TVL (Total Value Locked) data or announced client deployments outside of pilots, the $1 billion AmFi target by mid-2027 becomes a critical test.

Ondo Finance: The Race for Cross-Chain Expansion

++@OndoFinance++ has achieved the fastest expansion from institutional to retail in the RWA (Real World Asset) tokenization space. Starting with a focus on government bonds, it has now become the largest platform in the tokenized public stock sector.

Latest Data as of January 2026:

• Total Value Locked (TVL): $1.93 billion
• Tokenized Stocks: Over $400 million, accounting for 53% of market share
• USDY Holdings on Solana: Approximately $176 million

I personally tested the USDY product on Solana, and the user experience was incredibly smooth: combining institutional-grade government bonds with the convenience of DeFi is key.

Latest Updates

On January 8, 2026, Ondo launched 98 new tokenized assets at once, covering stocks and ETFs in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), electric vehicles (EV), and thematic investments. This is not a small-scale trial but a rapid advancement.

Ondo plans to launch tokenized US stocks and ETFs on Solana in the first quarter of 2026, marking its most aggressive attempt to enter retail-friendly infrastructure. According to the product roadmap, the goal is to launch over 1,000 tokenized assets as expansion progresses.

Industry Focus:

• Artificial Intelligence Sector: Nvidia, data center REITs
• Electric Vehicle Sector: Tesla, lithium battery manufacturers
• Thematic Investments: Special sectors traditionally limited by minimum investment thresholds

Multi-Chain Deployment Strategy

• Ethereum: DeFi liquidity and institutional legitimacy
• BNB Chain: Coverage of exchange-native users
• Solana: Supports large-scale consumer use with sub-second transaction finality

To be honest, while Ondo's token prices have fallen, its TVL has reached $1.93 billion, which is the most important signal: the protocol's growth prioritizes over speculative behavior. This growth is primarily driven by the demand for idle stablecoin yields from institutional government bonds and DeFi protocols. The increase in TVL during the market consolidation in Q4 2025 indicates real demand rather than just chasing market trends.

By establishing custody relationships with broker-dealers, completing Halborn security audits, and launching products on three major blockchains within six months, Ondo has gained a competitive edge that rivals find hard to catch up with. For example, its competitor Backed Finance has a tokenized asset scale of only about $162 million.

However, Ondo still faces some challenges:

1. Price Volatility During Non-Trading Hours: Although tokens can be transferred at any time, pricing still needs to reference exchange operating hours, which may create arbitrage price differences during US night trading hours.
2. Compliance Restrictions: Securities laws require strict KYC (Know Your Customer) and verification checks, limiting the "permissionless" narrative.

Centrifuge: How Asset Managers Truly Deploy Billions

++@centrifuge++ has become the standard infrastructure for institutional-grade private credit tokenization. As of December 2025, the protocol's total locked value (TVL) has soared to $1.3 billion to $1.45 billion, driven by actual deployed institutional capital.

Key Institutional Deployment Cases

1. Janus Henderson Partnership (a global asset management company with $373 billion in assets under management)

• Anemoy AAA CLO Fund: Fully on-chain AAA-rated collateralized loan obligations (CLO)
• Uses the same portfolio management team as its $21.4 billion AAA CLO ETF
• Announced expansion plans in July 2025, targeting an additional $250 million investment on Avalanche

1. Grove Funding Allocation (an institutional credit protocol in the Sky ecosystem)

• Committed funding allocation strategy reaching $1 billion
• Initial startup capital of $50 million
• Founding team from Deloitte, Citigroup, BlockTower Capital, and Hildene Capital Management

1. Chronicle Labs Oracle Partnership (announced January 8, 2026)

• Proof of Asset framework: Provides cryptographically verified holding data
• Supports transparent net asset value (NAV) calculations, custody verification, and compliance reporting
• Provides dashboard access for limited partners (LPs) and auditors

I have been following the oracle issue in the blockchain space, and Chronicle Labs' approach is the first solution that meets institutional needs: providing verifiable data without sacrificing on-chain efficiency. The announcement on January 8 also included a video demonstration showing that this solution is already in practical use, not just a future promise.

Centrifuge's Unique Operating Model:

Unlike competitors that simply package off-chain products, Centrifuge tokenizes credit strategies directly at the issuance stage. Its process is as follows:

1. Issuers design and manage funds through a single transparent workflow;
2. Institutional Investors allocate stablecoins for investment;
3. Funds flow to borrowers after credit approval;
4. Repayments are proportionally distributed to token holders via smart contracts;
5. Annual Percentage Yields (APY) on AAA-rated assets range from 3.3% to 4.6%, with full transparency.

Multi-Chain V3 Architecture Supported Networks: Ethereum; Base; Arbitrum; Celo; Avalanche

The key is that asset managers need to prove that on-chain credit can support billions in deployment, and Centrifuge has already achieved this. Just the partnership with Janus Henderson provides billions in capacity.

Additionally, Centrifuge's leadership in industry standard-setting (such as co-founding the Tokenized Asset Coalition and Real-World Asset Summit) further solidifies its position as infrastructure rather than a single product.

While the $1.45 billion TVL demonstrates institutional investment demand, the 3.8% target APY seems less attractive compared to higher-risk, higher-return opportunities in DeFi's history. Attracting DeFi-native liquidity providers beyond the Sky ecosystem allocation becomes Centrifuge's next challenge.

Canton Network: Wall Street's Blockchain Infrastructure

++@CantonNetwork++ is a response to the permissionless ethos of DeFi with institutional-grade blockchain: a privacy-preserving public network supported by top Wall Street firms.

Participating Institutions

• DTCC (Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation)
• BlackRock
• Goldman Sachs
• Citadel Securities

Canton aims to target $37 trillion in annual settlement flow handled by DTCC in 2024. Yes, that number is not a typo.

DTCC Partnership (December 2025)

The partnership with DTCC is crucial. This is not just a pilot project but a core commitment to building the US securities settlement infrastructure. By obtaining the SEC's No-Action Letter approval, this collaboration allows some US government bonds held by DTCC to be natively tokenized on Canton, with plans to launch a controlled production MVP (Minimum Viable Product) in the first half of 2026.

Key Details:

• DTCC and Euroclear jointly serve as co-chairs of the Canton Foundation;
• Not just participants but leaders in governance;
• Initially focused on government bonds (lowest credit risk, high liquidity, clear regulation);
• After the MVP phase, may expand to corporate bonds, stocks, and structured products.

At first, I was skeptical about permissioned blockchains. But the partnership with DTCC changed my perspective. This is not due to its technical superiority but because it is the infrastructure that traditional finance will genuinely adopt.

Temple Digital Platform Launch (January 8, 2026)

Canton's institutional value proposition was further clarified with the launch of a private trading platform by Temple Digital Group on January 8, 2026. This platform is already live, not "coming soon."

Canton Network provides a Central Limit Order Book with sub-second matching speed, using a non-custodial architecture. Currently supports trading of cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, with plans to support tokenized stocks and commodities in 2026.

Ecosystem Partners

• Franklin Templeton: Manages a money market fund valued at $828 million
• JPMorgan: Achieves payment delivery (DvP) settlement through JPM Coin

Canton's Privacy Architecture

Canton's privacy features are based on smart contract levels, using Daml (Digital Asset Modeling Language) to implement:

• Contracts explicitly state which parties can see which data;
• Regulators can access complete audit trails;
• Counterparties can view transaction details;
• Competitors and the public cannot see any transaction information;
• Status updates propagate through the network atomically.

For institutions accustomed to using Bloomberg terminals and dark pools for confidential trading, Canton’s architecture makes sense by providing blockchain efficiency while avoiding public exposure of trading strategies. After all, Wall Street will never expose proprietary trading activities on a transparent public ledger.

Canton Network's over 300 participating institutions demonstrate its appeal in the institutional space. However, many of the reported trading volumes may be more indicative of simulated pilot activities rather than actual production flows.

The current limitation lies in development speed: the MVP planned for delivery in the first half of 2026 reflects a multi-quarter planning cycle. In contrast, DeFi protocols typically launch new products within weeks.

Polymesh: A Securities Blockchain Network Born for Compliance

++@PolymeshNetwork++ stands out through protocol-level compliance rather than the complexity of smart contracts. As a blockchain designed specifically for regulated securities, Polymesh conducts compliance verification at the consensus level without relying on custom code.

Core Features

• Protocol-Level Identity Verification: Conducted through licensed customer due diligence (CDD) providers;
• Embedded Transfer Rules: Non-compliant transactions fail directly at the consensus stage;
• Atomic Payment Delivery (DvP): Transactions are confirmed within 6 seconds.

Production-Grade Integrations

• Republic (August 2025): Supports private securities issuance;
• AlphaPoint: Covers 150+ trading venues across 35 countries;
• Target Areas: Regulated funds, real estate, corporate equity, etc.

Advantages

• No need for custom smart contract audits;
• Protocol automatically adapts to regulatory changes;
• Non-compliant transfer operations cannot be executed.

Challenges and Future

Polymesh currently operates as an independent chain, isolating it from DeFi liquidity. To address this, an Ethereum bridge is planned for launch in Q2 2026. Whether this will be achieved on schedule remains to be seen.

To be honest, I underestimated the potential of this "compliance-native" architecture. For those troubled by the complexities of ERC-1400, Polymesh's approach is indeed more attractive: embedding compliance directly into the protocol rather than relying on smart contracts.

How Do These Protocols Segment the Market?

These five protocols do not directly compete because they address different problems:

Privacy Solutions:

• Canton: Based on Daml smart contracts, focusing on Wall Street counterparty relationships;
• Rayls: Uses Zero-Knowledge Proofs to provide bank-grade mathematical privacy protection;
• Polymesh: Protocol-level identity verification, offering a one-stop compliance solution.

Expansion Strategies:

• Ondo: Manages $1.93 billion across three chains, prioritizing liquidity speed over depth;
• Centrifuge: Focuses on the institutional credit market of $1.3 billion to $1.45 billion, prioritizing depth over speed.

Target Markets:

• Banks/CBDC → Rayls
• Retail/DeFi → Ondo
• Asset Management Firms → Centrifuge
• Wall Street → Canton
• Security Tokens → Polymesh

In my view, this market segmentation is more important than people realize. Institutions do not choose the "best blockchain" but rather the infrastructure that can address their specific compliance, operational, and competitive needs.

Unresolved Issues

Fragmentation of Cross-Chain Liquidity

The costs of cross-chain fragmentation are very high: estimated at $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion annually. Due to the high costs of cross-chain bridging, the price difference for the same asset traded across different blockchains can reach 1%-3%. If this issue persists until 2030, the annual cost is expected to exceed $75 billion.

This is one of my biggest concerns. Even if you build the most advanced tokenization infrastructure, if liquidity is scattered across incompatible chains, the efficiency gains will be lost.

The Paradox of Privacy and Transparency

Institutions need confidentiality in transactions, while regulators require auditability. In multi-party scenarios (such as issuers, investors, rating agencies, regulators, and auditors), each party requires different levels of visibility. Currently, there is no perfect solution.

Regulatory Fragmentation

• The EU has passed MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets), applicable to 27 countries;
• The US requires case-by-case applications for No-Action Letters, taking months;
• Cross-border capital flows face challenges of jurisdictional conflicts.

Oracle Risks

Tokenized assets rely on off-chain data. If data providers are attacked, the performance of on-chain assets may reflect incorrect realities. Although Chronicle's Proof of Asset framework provides some solutions, risks still exist.

Path to Trillions: Key Catalysts for 2026

Catalysts to Watch in 2026:

Ondo's Solana Launch (Q1 2026)

• Testing whether retail-scale distribution can create sustainable liquidity;
• Success metrics: Over 100,000 holders, proving real demand exists.

Canton's DTCC MVP (H1 2026)

• Validating the feasibility of blockchain in US government bond settlements;
• If successful: could shift trillions of dollars in capital flows to on-chain infrastructure.

Passage of the US CLARITY Act

• Providing a clear regulatory framework;
• Enabling currently hesitant institutional investors to deploy capital.

Centrifuge's Grove Deployment

• $1 billion allocation to be completed within 2026;
• Testing the actual capital operation of institutional credit tokenization;
• If executed smoothly without credit events, it will enhance asset management firms' confidence.

Market Predictions

• 2030 Target: Tokenized asset scale reaches $2-4 trillion;
• Growth Demand: From the current $19.7 billion to 50-100 times;
• Assumptions: Regulatory stability, cross-chain interoperability readiness, no major institutional failures.

Growth Predictions by Industry:

• Private Credit: From the current $2-6 billion to $150-200 billion (small base, highest growth rate);
• Tokenized Government Bonds: If money market funds migrate on-chain, potential could exceed $5 trillion+;
• Real Estate: Expected to reach $3-4 trillion (depending on whether real estate registration systems adopt blockchain-compatible property registration).

Trillion-Dollar Milestone:

• Expected Achievement Timeframe: 2027-2028;
• Expected Distribution:
• Institutional Credit: $30-40 billion;
• Government Bonds: $30-40 billion;
• Tokenized Stocks: $20-30 billion;
• Real Estate/Commodities: $10-20 billion.

This requires a 5-fold growth from current levels. While the target is ambitious, considering the institutional momentum in Q4 2025 and the upcoming regulatory clarity, this goal is not out of reach.

Why These Five Protocols Matter

The institutional landscape for real-world assets (RWA) at the beginning of 2026 shows an unexpected trend: there is no single winner because there is no single market.

To be honest, this is the direction that infrastructure should evolve.

Each Protocol Addresses Different Problems:

• Rayls → Banking Privacy;
• Ondo → Tokenized Stock Distribution;
• Centrifuge → On-Chain Deployment for Asset Management Firms;
• Canton → Migration of Wall Street Infrastructure;
• Polymesh → Simplifying Securities Compliance.

The growth of the market size from $8.5 billion at the beginning of 2024 to $19.7 billion indicates that demand has surpassed speculative behavior.

Core Needs of Institutional Players:

• CFOs: Yield and operational efficiency;
• Asset Management Firms: Lower distribution costs and expand investor base;
• Banks: Infrastructure that meets compliance requirements.

The Next 18 Months Are Critical

• Ondo's Solana Launch → Testing the scalability of the retail market;
• Canton's DTCC MVP → Testing institutional-grade settlement capabilities;
• Centrifuge's Grove Deployment → Testing credit tokenization with actual capital;
• Rayls' $1 Billion AmFi Target → Testing the adoption of privacy infrastructure.

Execution takes precedence over architecture, and results matter more than blueprints. This is the key right now.

Traditional finance is moving toward a long-term process of on-chain migration. These five protocols provide the necessary infrastructure for institutional capital: privacy layers, compliance frameworks, and settlement infrastructure. Their success will determine the future development path of tokenization—whether as an efficiency improvement of existing structures or as a new system replacing traditional financial intermediaries.

The infrastructure choices made by institutions in 2026 will define the industry landscape for the next decade.

Key Milestones for 2026

• Q1: Ondo's Solana Launch (98+ stocks launched);
• H1: Canton’s DTCC MVP (government bond tokenization based on Wall Street infrastructure);
• Ongoing: Centrifuge's Grove $1 billion deployment; Rayls' AmFi ecosystem building.

Trillion-dollar assets are on the horizon.

NFA.