# The RWA Liquidity Gap: Why Tokenized Assets Struggle to Trade High holder counts mask a severe lack of secondary market depth in tokenized assets. - **Source:** [CryptoCurrency – Finance Magnates | Financial and business news](https://brifing.si/source/b5a2ce51-ec8e-4702-886b-778de5971605) - **Published:** 2026-10-19 - **Topic:** [Finance](https://brifing.si/c/finance) - **Original article:** - **On Brifing:** https://brifing.si/s/f6aa7d1b-1e99-441c-ac67-35965fe344c4 ## The Liquidity Paradox The RWA sector faces a stark divide between asset value and trading activity. While permissioned products represent 59% of the $331.8 billion market cap, they contribute only 0.2% of spot trading volume. This indicates that the majority of tokenized assets remain stagnant, functioning more like locked vaults than active financial instruments. ## Institutional Fund Stagnation BlackRock’s BUIDL fund exemplifies this inactivity, recording only 191 transfers in a single month across 10 chains. With a turnover rate of 0.12, it lags significantly behind stablecoins, which turn over 21 times their float monthly. Franklin Templeton’s BENJI fund further highlights this trend, reporting 562 holders but zero monthly transfer volume. ## Fragmented Market Reality The IMF’s October 2026 report characterizes tokenized markets as fragmented and relatively illiquid. Most activity is concentrated in repurchase agreements, which see $300 billion to $350 billion in daily volume. Outside of these repos, the entire tokenized universe, including equities and money market funds, contributes only $65 billion to daily activity. ## Holder Growth vs. Depth Spectacular growth in holder counts does not equate to market depth. BNB Chain saw addresses reach 2.03 million in October 2026, a 15.56% increase in 30 days. However, only 26% of major tokenized products meet basic liquidity thresholds. Most assets suffer from low secondary trading, proving that user acquisition is currently outpacing market utility. ## Asset-Specific Trading Patterns Tokenized gold remains the exception, with PAXG and XAUT generating $90.7 billion in Q1 2026 spot volume. Conversely, tokenized treasuries function as buy-and-hold instruments, with turnover rates as low as 0.1%. The asset class itself, rather than the underlying blockchain technology, dictates the liquidity profile and the potential for active secondary market participation. ## The Wrapper Problem Issuance has become technically simple, but creating liquid markets requires complex infrastructure like market makers and regulatory clarity. The Tokenization Preparedness Index scored a low 2.04, reflecting that most assets are merely simple wrappers. Without native on-chain integration, these products fail to attract the continuous buying and selling necessary for deep liquidity. ## Derivatives Outpacing Spot Trading activity is shifting toward derivatives, where perpetual futures for tokenized stocks generated $67.8 billion in June volume. This figure is 16 times higher than the spot market for the same assets. Traders favor these platforms for leverage and liquidity, suggesting that the spot market currently lacks the necessary structure to support active trading. ## Future Market Evolution Sustainable growth requires a shift toward open-access tokens and hybrid venues connecting centralized order books with on-chain pools. As regulation improves and DeFi utilization increases, the sector will likely move beyond simple holder inflation. The next phase of RWA adoption will depend on building reliable trading depth rather than just increasing issuance. ## Sources covering this story - https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/more-holders-little-trading-the-rwa-liquidity-problem-is-worse-than-you-think/ — --- _Summary written by Brifing from the original reporting. Copyright in the original article belongs to its publisher; read the full piece at the link above._