The depletion of existing channels and the rapid rise of the RWA market.

On September 2, 2026, Wintermute, a major market maker in the crypto asset sector, released a detailed analysis regarding historical trends in market volatility and capital inflows. According to the firm's analysis, the capital inflow channels that drove previous bull markets have seen a significant decline in their ability to boost prices through additional funding.

Spot ETFs and corporate digital asset treasuries (DAT) were the primary drivers of the market from 2024 through 2025. JPMorgan estimates that corporate treasuries accounted for approximately $68 billion—more than half—of the roughly $130 billion in inflows seen in 2025. However, both engines lost momentum after October 2025; the additional purchasing power from DATs was exhausted, and ETF flows remained unstable, characterized by alternating periods of inflow and outflow.

Wintermute highlights a key issue: these capital channels concentrated funds in Bitcoin and Ethereum without triggering a spillover effect into altcoins or the DeFi sector. While BTC and ETH saw price declines of approximately 6% and 11% respectively in 2025, the broader market—excluding these three assets—experienced a drop of nearly 60%.

As these traditional capital circulation patterns reached their limits, "Real-World Asset (RWA) tokenization" emerged as a new engine for liquidity. Wintermute’s data shows that the RWA market saw a net increase of approximately $16 billion over the past 12 months, representing 0.9% of the total crypto asset market capitalization. During the same period, the value of on-chain tokenized assets roughly tripled, reaching approximately $30 billion.

Franklin Templeton’s tokenized money market fund (MMF), "BENJI," has been deployed across nine blockchains, while the underlying investment fund, FOBXX, holds approximately $726 million in assets under management. Ondo Finance’s platform, "Ondo Global Markets," reached $1 billion in assets under management just eight months after its launch in September 2025.

Meanwhile, BlackRock’s "BUIDL" token saw its volume rise to approximately $2.9 billion by mid-2025 before dropping to the $1.7 billion range in early 2026; recently, it has been hovering around the $2.5 billion mark. Although the balance fluctuates in line with market conditions, its utility has steadily expanded. Starting with Deribit in June 2025, it has been accepted as exchange collateral on Binance (November 2025) and within the framework of OKX and Standard Chartered (April 2026).

Following this trend, Ethena issued "USDtb"—a stablecoin backed by BUIDL for over 90% of its reserves—via Anchorage Digital Bank. However, as USDtb is a payment stablecoin subject to the U.S. GENIUS Act, it cannot pay yields directly to holders; interest earned on the underlying government bonds simply accumulates within the issuer's reserves.

Regarding technical infrastructure, "permissioned" standards that restrict participation are becoming the industry norm. Examples include the "ERC-3643" (T-REX protocol), which stores identity verification (KYC) and sanctions screening results as "claims" linked to on-chain IDs, allowing smart contracts to verify eligibility.

On the regulatory front, the U.S. GENIUS Act, enacted in July 2025, prohibited issuers of payment stablecoins from paying yields directly to holders. While the assets backing the stablecoin generate yield, the mechanism for passing those returns on to holders has been blocked.

That said, while the legislative framework is established, the operational details remain to be determined. The proposed rule published by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on March 2, 2026, raised over 200 questions regarding the composition of reserve assets, capital, custody, and the scope of the ban on yield generation, and was opened for a 60-day public comment period. One point of contention is whether to impose a cap on the proportion of tokenized products within reserve assets. BlackRock submitted a comment letter opposing this measure. There are already several stablecoins—such as the aforementioned USDtb—that place products like BUIDL at the core of their reserves, and a cap would necessitate a restructuring of their very architecture.