Singapore led global crypto adoption in 2025 as reported by industry studies, driven in large part by a 63% surge in RWA tokenization to an estimated $2.57 billion by year-end. The acceleration in RWA tokenization positioned the city-state at the center of institutional experiments in asset digitization and market infrastructure.
Regulatory clarity and institutional pilots as growth catalysts
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) adopted a tech-neutral stance, focusing regulation on the nature and risks of tokenized instruments rather than the underlying technology. On November 4, 2025, MAS unveiled its first comprehensive RWA regulatory framework to clarify legal treatment and operational requirements for tokenized assets, supported by an expanded Project Guardian program that now includes tokenized bank liabilities and involves global banks such as JP Morgan and local incumbents like DBS.
The Financial Services and Markets Act provisions that came into force on June 30, 2025 require licensing for Digital Token Service Providers (DTSPs) operating in or from Singapore, explicitly extending obligations to firms serving overseas clients. MAS also committed to formalize stablecoin rules within 2025 to address reserve management and value-stability requirements, reinforcing a policy environment that prioritizes clarity and risk-based oversight.
Real-World Asset (RWA) tokenization converts rights to physical or financial assets into tradable digital tokens on blockchains, enabling fractional ownership and on-chain transferability. By tying regulatory guidance to this functional definition, Singapore has been able to channel RWA innovation into clearly scoped legal and supervisory frameworks.
Globally, the RWA market reached about $24 billion by June 2025, while total value locked (TVL) for RWAs on public blockchains neared $18 billion in June and later passed $25 billion from a prior $8.6 billion level. Tokenized treasuries recorded a 539% increase between January 2024 and April 2025, and major consultancies project long-term growth toward ranges of $2 trillion in RWAs and up to 10% of global GDP in tokenized assets by 2030, with some forecasts extending to a $30 trillion market by 2034.
Market concentration is visible: Ethereum held roughly 53% of RWA tokenization market share in 2025, with an estimated valuation cited at $26.63 billion. This concentration underscores how a small number of foundational networks are becoming core settlement layers for tokenized instruments.
Notable implementations illustrate practical adoption. In November 2025 Franklin Templeton and DBS launched Singapore’s first tokenized money market fund for retail investors. Local platforms such as InvestaX and Arkadia Global have been active in tokenizing real estate and private equity, while decentralized and institutional initiatives like MakerDAO’s RWA Vaults exceeding $1 billion and a BlackRock fund dominating tokenized treasuries demonstrate that RWA use cases now span both DeFi and traditional asset management, supported by specialized providers such as Ondo Finance and Chainlink.
Operational and security risks are material. RWA-specific exploits caused roughly $14.6 million in losses in the first half of 2025, and broader crypto hacks totaled about $163 million in August 2025. Persistent challenges including regulatory fragmentation, smart contract vulnerabilities, oracle manipulation, interoperability gaps, custodial failures, liquidity fragmentation and counterparty exposures require both technical controls and strengthened compliance regimes.
Singapore’s combination of clarified regulation, pilot programs and institutional partnerships has concentrated RWA tokenization activity and market formation in 2025. For market participants, the immediate implications are heightened compliance obligations, greater demand for secure oracle and custody services, and a shifting risk profile as tokenized instruments move from pilot to scale under a regulatory-led model that other jurisdictions are watching closely.