According to Blockworks, the latest episode of the Empire podcast featured intriguing predictions from ParaFi regarding the future of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) and stablecoins. ParaFi anticipates that RWAs will surpass the overall value of digital assets, excluding stablecoins. Currently, the total value of RWAs has reached nearly $13.5 billion, while the total crypto market cap stands at approximately $3.4 trillion. Despite RWAs not yet overtaking cryptocurrencies, their value has surged by over 50% in the past year alone.
The financial sector is seen as outdated, lacking an 'Amazon experience' for finance, according to ParaFi's Ben Forman. The tokenization of assets on a blockchain allows for programming logic into the assets themselves, reducing the need for intermediaries such as lawyers and trustees. This innovation opens up numerous possibilities for AI agent use cases, including enabling micropayments. Currently, tokenized treasuries dominate the space, comprising 62% of the market. However, stablecoins are also a crucial part of the discussion. When combined with RWAs, the market cap reaches nearly $200 billion. ParaFi predicts that by 2030, stablecoin supply could account for 10% of the M2 money supply in the US, a significant increase from the current 1%.
ParaFi's optimism is based on three factors: the evolution of stablecoins as a new form of global payment rails, the potential for fintech companies to integrate stablecoins due to their lack of legacy system constraints, and the emergence of new business models involving yield-bearing reserves to back stablecoins, as noted by ParaFi's Kevin Yedid-Botton. A recent Delphi Digital report highlighted that weekly stablecoin transfer volume has reached $302 billion, marking a 235% increase year-to-date. The report emphasized that stablecoins have found a product-market fit, facilitating a more global digital economy. These predictions underscore the potential for significant growth in both RWAs and stablecoins by 2030.