BlockBeats News, May 18th - Geoffrey Kendrick, Global Head of Digital Assets Research at Standard Chartered Bank, stated that by the end of 2028, the total size of on-chain tokenized assets is expected to reach $40 trillion, with stablecoins and Real World Assets (RWA) each accounting for $20 trillion.

Standard Chartered believes that DeFi protocols with mature risk management systems and scalability will be the primary beneficiaries of this trend, while the advancement of the U.S. "Clarity Act" may serve as a key catalyst in accelerating the on-chain movement in traditional finance.

Kendrick pointed out that the core advantage of DeFi lies in "Composability." In an on-chain environment, the same asset can simultaneously earn yield, act as collateral, and provide liquidity, a level of efficiency traditional financial systems cannot achieve. He stated that this structural advantage means "1+1=3."

Citing the example of Blackrock's tokenized U.S. Treasury bond fund BUIDL, Standard Chartered noted that the product not only earns around 4% yield from U.S. Treasuries but can also be converted into sBUIDL for DeFi use in lending protocols as collateral and as reserve assets for products like Ethena USDtb and Ondo OUSG.

The report also highlighted that the current off-chain asset size is roughly 1000 times larger than on-chain assets, indicating that institutional asset tokenization could be a key source of growth in the next phase of the industry.

In terms of institutional adoption, Standard Chartered mentioned that Aave's asset size at one point rivaled that of the 38th largest U.S. bank, with the current daily on-chain stablecoin lending volume reaching $1.5 billion to $2 billion. Additionally, the Bitcoin lending product collaboration between Coinbase and Morpho currently has a loan size of approximately $1.75 billion, covering around 22,000 borrowers, demonstrating that traditional financial institutions are gradually integrating DeFi as part of their underlying infrastructure.