RWA Market Reaches $51 Billion as Tokenized Private Credit Drives Growth, Bernstein Says

Real-world asset tokenization brings rights to traditional financial assets, including private credit and funds, onto blockchains to make issuance, settlement and transfers more efficient. Bernstein Research said institutional investors are accelerating their adoption of onchain infrastructure for lending and fund operations. Private credit has also become a key gauge of traditional finance’s embrace of blockchain technology.

By the time Bernstein’s report was published in 2026, the tokenized RWA market had reached $51 billion, up 42% from the start of 2026, though related coverage rounded the increase to about 40%. Tokenized private credit accounted for 44% of the total, or about $22.4 billion, making it the largest segment and the main engine of the market’s latest expansion.