RWA Tokenization Draws 29% of New Crypto Startups, Report Finds

Real-world asset tokenization has overtaken decentralized finance as the top focus for new crypto startups, according to a survey of the sector's pipeline.

Twenty-nine percent of applicant startups in the report's sample are building RWA and tokenization products. That compares with 23% building DeFi protocols and 11% building decentralized artificial intelligence applications. The data covers projects that applied to a major accelerator program, giving a forward look at where developer attention is flowing.

The shift is even sharper on the capital side. Ninety-two percent of surveyed venture capital funds said RWA is their primary investment segment. Stablecoins and DeFi tied at 77% support. The numbers suggest institutional money is following the same vector as new projects, rather than betting on a DeFi revival.

RWA tokenization covers a broad set of use cases: private credit, real estate, commodities, and equity-like instruments. The category has drawn interest from traditional finance firms including BlackRock and Franklin Templeton, which have launched tokenized money-market funds. On the crypto-native side, exchanges like Binance have added tokenized stocks, and a growing number of platforms offer tokenized U.S. Treasury products.

The report's findings reinforce a trend visible in onchain data. Total value locked in RWA protocols has climbed steadily through 2025, even as DeFi TVL has plateaued. The divergence reflects a structural difference: DeFi protocols compete for the same pool of crypto-native liquidity, while RWA products tap into demand from outside the ecosystem – institutional investors who want blockchain settlement without crypto volatility.

DeFi's share of new projects has slipped from earlier cycles. The 23% figure is down from peaks above 40% during the 2021–2022 bull run. The decline tracks a broader maturation of the sector: many of the core DeFi primitives – lending, swaps, yield – are now mature products with established leaders. New entrants face a harder path to differentiation.

Decentralized AI, at 11%, remains a niche despite heavy media coverage. The category includes projects building onchain inference markets, model training incentives, and data provenance tools. The low startup share suggests the infrastructure for AI on blockchain is still early, or that capital is concentrating in a small number of well-funded teams.

The report did not name the accelerator or the exact number of applicants surveyed. The directional signal is clear enough: RWA has become the default entry point for new crypto projects, and the capital is there to back them.