Bit' Asset management company Bitwise's senior investment strategist Juan Leon believes that Ethereum will benefit from several important trends in 2025, regaining its dominant position, with the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) being the biggest driver.
In an article published on Tuesday, Leon stated that the two main focuses of the crypto market in 2024 were the surge in Bit' due to the launch of spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and record inflows, as well as Solana becoming a favorite among retail investors driven by meme coin hype, which largely overshadowed Ethereum. Although Ether has achieved a good return (around 66%) so far this year, it still lags behind Solana's 106% and Bit''s 130%.
In Bitwise's recent 2025 crypto predictions report, the company believes that several major real-world trends will shape the crypto industry in the coming year, including the continued rise of stablecoins and the widespread adoption of AI agents in crypto trading. Leon believes that the biggest and most underestimated opportunity is tokenization, the process of bringing real-world assets (such as government bonds or real estate) onto the Blockchain, and the tokenization market is currently dominated by Ethereum.
Leon pointed out that the tokenization of real assets is already happening, and the scale of tokenized assets is growing rapidly. He mentioned that companies, including BlackRock and UBS, have begun to bring government securities, commodities, real estate, and private equity onto the chain. For example, BlackRock has a $578 million tokenized government bond fund and plans to expand its scale. Bitwise expects tokenized fund assets to triple next year, with Ethereum being the driving force behind it.
Leon stated: "Ethereum is the most battle-tested, secure, and decentralized smart contract platform, and since its inception in 2015, it has established its leadership in decentralized applications (DApps), smart contracts, and tokenization. Currently, Ethereum has an 81% market share in the tokenized asset market, and its long-term stable performance and large decentralized validator network give asset management firms confidence in its security and reliability when bringing assets on-chain."
Leon pointed out that the total value of global real assets is around $100 trillion, and it will take time, even decades, to move a significant portion of them onto the tokenization track. But if realized, the annual fees from RWA-related assets could exceed $100 billion, more than 40 times Ethereum's total fee revenue of $24 billion so far this year. Additionally, Leon believes that the more crypto-friendly new U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will provide the regulatory clarity needed to accelerate the tokenization process.
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