Plume CEO says tokenized asset market still too small for institutional capital

Chris Yin, CEO  and co-founder of Plume, argues that while real-world asset tokenization is growing in the crypto world, the market is not yet mature enough for institutional investors.

He claimed that the RWA market is still too small and that institutions will take time to see its value. Yin also compared the current state of RWAs to Bitcoin and stablecoins in their developing stages, contending that they must first draw in multiple more users to attract institutional attention.

He said, “Only now, 10 years later, are they beginning to think about using the stablecoin. The same thing is going to happen in tokenized assets or tokenization.”

Yin claims RWAs are worth only about $10 billion, contrary to most market analyzes

Yin believes current market estimates of real-world asset (RWA) capitalization are significantly overstated. While some place the market’s value at over $21 billion, he argues the true figure is closer to $10 billion, which he claims is majorly Treasury bills, gold, and a little private credit.

He even argued that the prevailing interpretation of the $21 billion figure is wrong, saying, “The perspective that most people have is wrong with this, which is I take this $21 billion in assets.”

As per RWA.xyz data, real-world assets market capitalization had settled at $21.96 billion on April 30. Private credit led the chart of all RWAs, worth $12.87 billion, while treasury bills accounted for $6.33 billion and commodities $1.62 billion.

However, Stobox co-founder Ross Shemeliak’s estimations partially differ from RWA.xyz estimations, projecting that private credit does not account for most RWAs but tokenized Treasurys and bonds. He estimates that tokenized Treasurys and bonds account for about 60–65% of RWAs.

Shemeliak did acknowledge that gauging the size of the RWA market is highly challenging, especially since private asset data is often inaccessible or fragmented.

He added that nearly all companies globally are private, and almost all of them are “untapped candidates for tokenization.” 

Yin advised the RWA market to depend more on the native community than institutional investors

Yin also said that institutions wait for projects to get bigger so they can invest, thinking they can make more money that way. He pointed out that tokenized assets have attracted these institutional investors because they are looking at ways to bring in money, not save money or improve efficiency.

He added that the RWA market should primarily depend on the native community and not necessarily institutional investors. 

Yin believes that institutions are not injecting any money on-chain and are only looking for ways to drain money out of the community by selling their products to them.

Shemeliak, however, contended that RWA tokenization would not survive long-term without institutional capital. He even likened RWA tokenization without institutions’ backing to having a stock exchange without regulators or custodians.

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