Real-world assets (RWAs) refers to onchain representations of tangible and intangible assets from the traditional financial realm. Specifically, RWA tokens serve as digital counterparts to real-world assets or the rights associated with them.

RWAs can be broadly categorized into three categories: tangible, intangible, and financial assets.

Tangible assets, grounded in the physical world, include real estate properties, such as residential or commercial spaces. A tangible asset could also be a watch, a trading card, a car, and more. Tokenizing these assets opens them up to much deeper liquidity and also provides a way for investors to own fractions of real properties.

Intangible assets, on the other hand, consist of intellectual property rights, patents, copyrights, and other such claims. Tokenizing these assets ensures a secure and traceable method of ownership transfer.

Financial assets, representing ownership or claims to already-priced assets, can range from stocks and bonds to revenue-sharing agreements. By putting tokenized financial assets on the blockchain, traditional investment opportunities become more accessible: both for buyers and sellers. This also has the potential effect of democratizing financial markets and opening up new avenues for global participation.

The categorization of RWAs into these distinct classes highlights their versatility in bringing a wide array of assets onchain.

The Advantages of Tokenization

Real-world asset tokenization brings multiple benefits that reshape traditional investment approaches. One key advantage is fractionalization of assets like real estate, enabling investors to own fractional shares of high-value assets. This not only lowers entry barriers for individual investors but also enhances liquidity by making traditionally illiquid assets more tradable.

The democratization of investment opportunities is another significant benefit, as RWAs on blockchain provide global access to assets that were once regionally confined, fostering a more diverse (and liquid) investor base.

The streamlining of workflows resulting from RWA tokenization promotes faster settlement times and reduced costs. Blockchain can greatly expedite settlement processes, leading to quicker and more cost-effective transactions.

Increased liquidity is a direct outcome of tokenization, as assets can be traded 24/7 on decentralized platforms, improving market efficiency and allowing investors to enter and exit positions more easily. Lastly, RWA tokenization also supports portfolio diversification, offering exposure to a broader range of assets beyond traditional financial instruments.

Skynet: Your Guide to RWA Research

CertiK's Skynet RWA leaderboard makes it easy to find RWA platforms in one easy place. This centralized resource simplifies the identification and exploration of RWA opportunities. Users can easily search and filter projects based on their specific interests, be it tangible, intangible, or financial assets.

In this section, we’ll walk you through the process of navigating the Skynet RWA Leaderboard using Ondo Finance as an example.

Project Spotlight: Ondo Finance

Each entry is broken down into the six categories that contribute to the platform’s overall security score: Code, Fundamentals, Operations, Governance, Market, and Community.

Code: This section displays CertiK audit results, highlighting any centralization issues related to distribution, upgrades, privileges, or other concerns. Ondo Finance exhibits no red flags, with just one unresolved "informational" issue. GitHub Monitoring reveals a "High" rating for Ondo Finance, indicating significant developer activity.

Fundamentals: Fundamentals displays a project's KYC status, maturity, and active user geography. Ondo Finance currently does not have KYC through CertiK or third-party vendors. This section also considers a project's age and provides insights into the distribution of its users. At 3 years, Ondo Finance is considered “Moderately Developed” compared to other projects on Skynet.

Operations: This section evaluates a project's commitment to security measures, including bug bounty programs and website security scans. Ondo Finance has an active bug bounty through a third party, and "Incident History" indicates there have been no security incidents in the last 90 days.

Governance: Highlighting governance protocols and centralization scanning, this section scans for "Contract Uncertainty," "Owner Privilege," and "Trading Constraint." Subcategories are clearly marked as either passing or requiring attention, simplifying the identification of issues. Currently, one issue under Owner Privilege and two issues under Trading Constraint require attention.

Token Holders Analysis analyzes the growth of holders over time, total token holders, the percentage held by the top 10 holders, and whale movement indicators. From February 2024 to March 2024, Ondo Finance has seen nearly an increase of 3,000 holders.

Market: The Market section displays market analytics, including token price, market cap, volume, and exchange data, and includes a corresponding price chart sourced from CoinMarketCap. Exchange analytics show which CEXs and DEXs hold the majority of the project's token. Currently, ONDO is traded on 12 exchanges, with more than $274M of liquidity spread across them.

Token correlation indicates how the project token moves in relation to others, and TVL analytics show the total value locked. Another metric worth considering when assessing the tokenomic health is the TVL ratio, calculated as the Market Capitalization divided by TVL.

Community: Drawing data from X, this section gauges project and community activity, providing a view of Ondo Finance's social engagement and impact.

Real-World Adoption

The tokenization of real-world assets represents a significant opportunity for the at-scale adoption of blockchain technology, while offering a chance to improve both the current onchain space as well as traditional systems. Those exploring RWAs may find Skynet to be a valuable resource that provides a range of insights into active RWA projects. To learn more, visit the RWA Leaderboard here.