The market for Real-World Assets (RWA) could see its value more than triple by 2026 as it expands beyond its current crypto-native applications. This prediction comes from Chris Yin, the co-founder and CEO of Plume, a layer-2 blockchain focused on the RWA sector.

According to data from RWA.xyz, over $35 billion in tokenized real-world assets are currently on-chain, distributed among more than 539,000 holders. Yin believes this is just the beginning, projecting a potential three to fivefold increase in market value as a base case for 2026. He also noted that the number of RWA holders has grown more than tenfold since the start of the year, suggesting a strong possibility of continued user growth.

Expanding Beyond Treasury Bills

Yin stated that the tokenized RWA market currently serves a predominantly crypto-native audience, with the vast majority of value locked in U.S. Treasury bills. He anticipates that as the market matures and potential interest rate cuts occur, on-chain users will begin seeking higher yields from new asset classes. This shift is already becoming visible with growing interest in private credit, mineral rights, oil, energy, and even GPU hardware.

Regulatory developments are also expected to be a key factor. As countries like the United States work on legislation for stablecoins and other tokenized assets, Yin expects these instruments will move from experimental phases into mainstream use, attracting demand from beyond the existing crypto community.

Plume Forges Partnership with Securitize

Plume recently announced a significant partnership with Securitize, a tokenization platform backed by BlackRock and Morgan Stanley. The collaboration will involve Securitize deploying institutional-grade assets on Plume’s Nest staking protocol, which allows investors to trade and earn yield on tokenized assets.

This partnership aims to connect Securitize’s tokenized funds with Plume’s network of over 280,000 RWA holders. The first assets to be integrated will be from Hamilton Lane funds, with other issuers and asset classes from the Securitize platform scheduled to follow in 2026.

While Plume accounts for nearly half of all RWA holders, it doesn’t rank among the top ten networks by total asset value. Yin explained this by highlighting the network’s user-centric metric of success. He noted that Plume’s 280,000 users hold an aggregate of $200 million in RWAs, which he considers a healthier measure of network usage and adoption.