If you are a retail trader with big aspirations, you may use something like a scalping crypto bot to achieve significant profits. However, such breakthroughs are usually rare. Many investors prefer using conservative approaches that guarantee smaller profits without much risk. Before the arrival of RWA projects, such strategies were barely viable in the crypto ecosystem since all tokens are highly speculative in nature and do not align with the goals of a long-term investor.
Modern RWA tokenization platforms ensure that all processes of asset acquisition are simplified and streamlined. The higher efficiency is achieved through the removal of middlemen and increasing transaction times while making international markets accessible to all participants of the crypto ecosystem. Some platforms use real estate properties as backing for their crypto RWA projects. Others may focus on commodities or stocks.
Some forecasts predict a massive increase of the RWA market by 2030 with estimations going up to $10 trillion. Jumping headfirst in this industry is not an ideal decision. First, you need to do your due diligence and research underlying assets. Our review of top RWA crypto projects serves strictly educational purposes. Do not engage with these assets without conducting thorough research and consulting with specialists in relevant fields.
What is RWA in crypto?
Real-world asset projects are decentralized finance platforms that aim to reduce volatility and provide some fundamental value to their native tokens. It is done by attaching tokens to underlying real-world assets such as real estate, stocks, commodities, artwork, and more. While it seems like a good idea on paper, one must remember that even the best RWA coin projects may still be associated with significant risks due to regulatory pressures, issues with international law, and even the very technology that powers them.
When searching for the best RWA coin, you have to think about many factors including:
- Regulatory uncertainties. RWA crypto projects exist in a murky regulatory landscape that may change dramatically in years to come. Authorities in European nations and North America struggle to classify and oversee digital assets whether they have underlying real-world value or not. CipherTrace reported that regulatory compliance concerns are cited as most critical by many experts in the industry.
- Market volatility. Despite having real-world assets behind them, cryptocurrencies are still quite unpredictable and often behave independently from underlying assets and instead correlate more with mainstream tokens like Bitcoin and Ethereum. The cryptocurrency market's total market capitalization has increased and decreased violently during the last decade.
- Technological risks. RWA crypto projects aim to use blockchain technology for real-world asset tokenization. Problems begin surfacing when it comes to scalability, security, and interoperability which are still significant concerns that require solutions. RWA crypto platforms may expose underlying assets to various unexpected vulnerabilities and exploits like cyberattacks.
- Illiquidity and market depth. Even top RWA crypto projects still suffer from restrictively limited trading volumes and liquidity compared to the likes of Bitcoin and Ethereum. Retail traders often observe wide bid-ask spreads, noticeable price slippage, and slow execution of large orders. These issues have a simple root cause — low liquidity.
Investing even in the best RWA crypto projects is a dangerous endeavor yet it can be rewarding if you dedicate time and effort to researching regulatory uncertainties and technological risks. Now, that you know how RWA crypto projects work, it is a good time to learn about top RWA coins in the market.
Centrifuge — a leader in real-estate RWA
Centrifuge is pioneering the tokenization of RWA real estate assets on the blockchain. The platform provides the necessary liquidity for financing commercial real estate and housing. The liquidity is available to individual users and businesses which is often cited as a huge step toward the democratization of the real estate industry and one of ways to combat rising prices and increase housing affordability.
Here are some advantages of the platform:
- The native Tinlake protocol allows investors to provide liquidity against tokenized assets and farm yield in return. This approach makes the need for traditional intermediaries like banks and financial institutions irrelevant and encourages direct P2P lending with everything recorded on the ledger. Recently, the total value locked (TVL) in the Tinlake protocol reached $100 million.
- This platform employs a complex risk assessment methodology and focuses on collateralization as a means to reduce risks. Centrifuge verifies data on and off-chain to ensure the authenticity and quality of underlying assets. Theoretically, this approach significantly reduces the likelihood of defaulting.
- Geopolitical and geographical barriers do not have the same meaning when assets are tokenized on a decentralized ledger. Some argue that Centrifuge plays a huge role in global finance by giving access to resources to marginalized groups and small-time businesses. The platform claims that it already provided hundreds of millions in financing to a wide range of industries.
The market cap of the CFG token has been steadily growing despite some setbacks. As of the time of writing, $CFG hovers over $330 million market cap and demonstrates a strong daily trading volume that comes close to 33% of the cap.
LOFTY — real estate tokenized on the Algorand network
This project has a new take on the real estate sector and how it can be tied to the cryptocurrency ecosystem. It is one of the top RWA crypto projects that promises to grow into something very exciting if everything goes according to plan. Lofty allows its users to engage with the American real estate market even if they do not have the necessary legal status to do so.
Why is it so interesting to investors? Here are several reasons:
- Tokenization of real estate assets. The platform is strongly focused on the tokenization of offices and homes to make them purchasable for individual investors working with the Algorand blockchain network. It is possible to break any property into bite-sized partitions by tokenizing them lowering the entry barrier and opening the industry to new capital pooled together by individual crypto investors.
- Efficient and transparent transactions. The Algorand blockchain is a reliable technological base for projects like Lofty. It allows for fast and secure transactions that are immutable and forever recorded on the ledger. With low fees and finality of operations, it is possible to completely remove middlemen from the equation.
- Liquidity and diversification. The creators of the platform argue that the tokenization of real estate assets makes it more affordable and, therefore, more liquid. Tokens can be exchanged on a variety of secondhand markets and allow for quick and simple liquidation of properties when necessary by splitting them between multiple buyers.
- Global reach and accessibility. The decentralized platform allows everyone to participate in this new ecosystem since it does not adhere to geographical or geopolitical boundaries. Regardless of your legal status or accreditation, you can access the US real estate market and become an owner of a portion of a property. Lofty claims that investors from over 50 countries have already participated in tokenized real estate trading.
· Compliance and security. Unlike many other top RWA crypto projects, Lofty complies with regulatory requirements to make investors feel safer. Due diligence on properties and issuers is conducted for every new tokenized property to prevent any legal issues.
Lofty’s TLV is not something out of this world and has just over $29.44 million, according to DefiLlama. However, it is still an interesting asset to consider if you plan to expand your portfolio. The issue here is that Lofty is currently available on several DEX platforms. People who are used to interacting with assets via something like a TradingView bot may find it quite difficult to start trading $LOFTY.
MANTRA — one of the best RWA coins
Mantra is a relatively fresh voice in the DeFi ecosystem. It turns a variety of assets into tradable tokens by using the technology of the Polkadot blockchain. The main mission of the platform is to provide useful financial services to all users and equal access to opportunities for all participants in the market.
Here are some important advantages of this project:
- Mantra is capable of tokenizing any type of assets including real estate, art, and commodities allowing users to expose them to the digital financial market through the Polkadot network. The biggest advantage of this approach is the ability to fractionalize high-value assets into much smaller tradable tokens. It improves everything from liquidity and accessibility to better diversification.
- The interoperability and scalability of the Polkadot ecosystem allow for seamless asset tokenization while affording decentralized finance solutions to all participants. MANTRA is a para chain on the Polkadot network and enjoys its cross-chain compatibility and interoperability with other relevant DeFi protocols.
- The project prefers a decentralized governance model and implements changes demanded by the community through its DAO. Community members propose and vote on governance solutions that, in theory, contribute to the platform's improved development and growth.
- MANTRA is not locked to just one product and offers a wide range of useful services such as asset tokenization, decentralized lending, and staking-as-a-service (SaaS). Holders of tokens tokenize assets, borrow and lend coins, and farm yield by staking and liquidity mining.
The market cap of $OM is close to $570 million with a strong daily trading volume and trader activity. While the TVL is just $899 thousand, it is still one of the most popular RWA crypto projects out there thanks to the rich selection of services benefiting coin holders.
Should you invest in top RWA crypto projects?
Investments in real-world asset crypto tokens are associated with many noteworthy advantages. These tokens are excellent opportunities for investors to diversify their portfolios and make money from the growing merging of blockchain technology and traditional finance.
Here are factors to consider when thinking about investing in tokenized RWA:
- RWA crypto tokens make it easier for crypto enthusiasts to work with traditional assets like real estate, art, commodities, and private equity. Digital assets allow investors to enjoy partial ownership and increased liquidity even if there was none previously.
- Owning partitions of expensive assets allows investors to use diversification practices in their portfolios and reduce risks even if they do not have a large capital to work with. Even with limited resources, you can spread your attention across several asset classes and buy artwork alongside real estate.
- Blockchain technology guarantees transparency and security of underlying assets represented by crypto tokens. This transparency is the foundation of trust and confidence among crypto investors. Anyone can check the validity of underlying assets at any time.
- These tokens allow for better diversification of portfolios and convenient hedging against market risks. It is achieved through merging digital and real-world assets within a single portfolio. Consider the robustness of cryptocurrency investments and tokens to various economic shocks that may significantly damage the value of fiat currencies.
- Many top RWA coins offer yield-generation opportunities allowing holders to participate in the localized economy by lending, staking, and liquidity mining. In some sense, it is often a better financial decision to purchase these tokens strictly for the benefits that you can gain by engaging with the underlying DeFi protocol.
Many RWA tokens are quite popular in the market and enjoy high trading volumes. You can trade them advantageously by employing an AI trading bot capable of running a complex statistical arbitrage system. It is a potentially highly profitable investment method for retail traders who want to engage with a variety of digital assets.
The final decision is always left to an investor. It is impossible to predict where all these RWA will end up in a couple of years. They promise great returns and offer utility, but it is still uncertain what the future holds for Centrifuge, Mantra, Lofty, and many other top RWA crypto projects.