RWA / Tokenization Adoption — September 2026

Executive view

Sector judgment: strong adoption. September was flat in distributed asset value, but the financial stack around tokenized assets moved materially closer to production.

RWA.xyz reports distributed asset value, excluding stablecoins, of USD 38.69B as of 1 October 2026, down 0.65% over its trailing 30-day window. Over the same month, the European Central Bank launched Pontes for wholesale tokenized-asset settlement in central-bank money, Ondo became the first tokenization platform member of DTCC Fund/SERV, Coinbase tokenized U.S. technology stocks went live as collateral on Aave V4, and Chainlink demonstrated a cross-chain securities-financing workflow with DTCC.

The central distinction remains:

Asset value growth does not equal production infrastructure. Production infrastructure does not equal public-token value capture.

GLI24 RWA / Tokenization Sector Score: 84/100 — STRONG ADOPTION, up from 82 in the August 2026 report. The largest improvement is real collateral and settlement utility. The weakest factor remains token value capture.

This report applies the unchanged GLI24 RWA / Tokenization Exposure framework. Scores measure exposure and adoption relevance, not price, market capitalization or investment merit. The 24-asset research universe, constituent weights, constituent quantities and index methodology are unchanged.

Figures below are organization-reported or taken from public dashboards on the stated date. GLI24 has not independently verified project-reported activity.

1. Market reality check

Two comparison windows, not a contradiction

The previous GLI24 report (August 2026) used a distributed value snapshot of USD 38.36B. The 1 October snapshot is USD 0.33B higher, or about +0.86% versus that report snapshot. RWA.xyz's own rolling 30-day comparison shows -0.65%. Both statements are correct: they compare against different starting dates. The report-to-report change measures the gap between two GLI24 snapshots; the RWA.xyz figure measures the trailing 30 days ending 1 October. The honest reading is that distributed value was broadly flat in September.

Year-to-date context

Coinbase Research wrote on 10 January 2026 that distributed RWAs excluding stablecoins were roughly USD 18B. Against USD 38.69B now, the broad year-to-date increase is approximately +115%. This is an approximate comparison because the January figure was rounded. CoinGecko measured USD 19.32B at 31 March 2026; it is a useful cross-check, not the January baseline.

Network view

Ethereum's decline and growth on Solana, Stellar and the XRP Ledger point to continued multichain distribution rather than a sector contraction. One month is not enough to call a durable share shift.

Platform view

RWA.xyz platform data for Ondo on 1 October 2026 showed about USD 3.87B distributed value (+9.35% over 30 days), 515,095 holders (+24.34%) and USD 2.29B monthly transfer volume (+52.18%). Ondo grew materially in a month when the sector total was flat.

2. Institutional production and DTCC / ComposerX status

ECB Pontes — live

On 21 September 2026, the ECB launched Pontes, enabling wholesale tokenized-asset settlement in central-bank money. The ECB also began preparatory work to invest a small portion of its own funds in euro-denominated tokenized public-sector and supranational securities settled through Pontes. This is a live cash-leg infrastructure milestone. It is not a public-chain token partnership and does not by itself create demand for any GLI24 constituent token.

DTC Tokenization Service — expected October 2026, not yet commercially launched

As of 1 October 2026, DTCC's commercial DTC Tokenization Service was still publicly described as expected to launch in October 2026. GLI24 does not treat it as commercially live until DTCC publishes a dated official launch announcement.

The July production trades remain the strongest evidence: roughly 40 firms participated, using DTC-custodied U.S. Treasuries and equities across repo, delivery-versus-payment, securities lending, collateral pledge, margin and cross-chain transfers on LFDT Besu and Canton. No public production notional was disclosed.

What ComposerX is — and is not

ComposerX is DTCC's digital-asset platform and suite, with Factory, Capital Markets Platform and LedgerScan capabilities. Public product pages describe a unified operational framework and near-real-time ownership tracking. ComposerX is not itself proof that the DTC Tokenization Service is commercially live, and DTCC published no new September production-volume metric for it.

Other DTCC developments

• 16 September: Ondo's Oasis Pro Markets became the first tokenization platform member of DTCC Fund/SERV, which serves over 85% of U.S. mutual-fund activity. This is traditional distribution and process integration, not direct ONDO-token fee capture.
• 28 September: DTCC and iCapital announced a private-markets infrastructure collaboration. Tokenization and DLT are an area to explore where appropriate; there is no already-live tokenized iCapital product.
• 28 September: a DTCC, Citi and Swift interoperability paper argued for connected hybrid infrastructure spanning traditional systems, private networks and public chains.
• Stellar: DTCC has said the Tokenization Service will connect with the Stellar public blockchain. That connection remains planned for H1 2027, not live.

3. GLI24 ranking — RWA / Tokenization Exposure, September 2026

These are exposure and adoption relevance scores, not price targets, investment rankings or allocation recommendations. Upgrades require evidence moving at least one of: production deployment, institutional participation, asset or volume growth, multichain distribution, secondary-market or collateral utility, regulatory readiness or credible token value capture. Announcements without operational evidence do not earn upgrades.

4. Highest-conviction observations

LINK — 98, up 2

Chainlink introduced CCIP 2.0, provides the market data behind tokenized-equity collateral on Aave V4, and demonstrated Chainlink Fulcrum with DTCC at Sibos, executing a cross-chain securities-financing workflow. The Fulcrum workflow is a demonstration; no production volume was disclosed.

Project adoption: strengthened.

Token value capture: still requires evidence of LINK-linked fees, reserve growth or staking demand.

CC — 95, unchanged

Canton remains central to the July DTCC production trades and to institutional privacy requirements. The score is held rather than raised because the commercial DTC service launch and incremental CC burn/mint evidence were not yet public on 1 October.

Project adoption: positive, launch evidence pending.

Token value capture: unproven until DTC-linked activity can be connected to CC burn/mint.

ETH — 94, unchanged

Ethereum holds the largest public distributed-RWA base at about USD 16.7B, though down 5.31% over 30 days. The ARKVX tokenized fund on Ethereum and Ondo and Aave activity support continued utility.

Project adoption: strong despite the monthly decline.

Token value capture: clearer than governance-token capture through gas, security and burn, but the RWA-specific contribution is not isolated.

ONDO — 94, up 4

September delivered a genuine product and distribution leap: DTCC Fund/SERV membership through Oasis Pro Markets; direct conversion of underlying shares into Ondo Stocks and redemption back through Alpaca's Instant Tokenization Network, live on Ethereum and BNB Chain; Ondo Stocks live through near.com and NEAR Intents, starting with 20 assets and cross-chain access to 30+ networks; and Intelligent Portfolios, whose first model strategies were developed by BlackRock for Ondo. These are Ondo products using BlackRock-developed model strategies, not BlackRock funds.

Ondo reports USD 1B+ TVL and USD 26B+ trading volume for Ondo Stocks. These figures are issuer-reported.

Project adoption: much stronger.

Token value capture: much weaker than product adoption. None of these developments establishes direct ONDO-token fee capture.

XLM — 92, up 1

Stellar's distributed value reached USD 3.38B (+3.76%), with RWA transfer volume of USD 568.65M (+40.05%) and 22,626 RWA holders (+14.88%). The DTC connection remains planned for H1 2027, not live.

Project adoption: stronger.

Token value capture: limited by minimal network fees.

AAVE — 87, up 6

Seven Coinbase tokenized U.S. technology stocks went live on 25 September as collateral on Aave V4 on Base to borrow USDC, with Chainlink market data. This is the clearest September move from tokenization to financialization: tokenized securities now do something beyond being held. Aave Horizon remains past USD 500M in deposits according to Aave's own 2026 publication.

Project adoption: major upgrade.

Token value capture: more credible where protocol revenue and buyback mechanics apply, but stock-specific revenue is not yet quantifiable.

NEAR — 64, up 12

NEAR moves from abstract optionality to actual distribution: Ondo Stocks are accessible through NEAR Intents across 30+ networks. This is the largest relative upgrade of the month.

Project adoption: materially stronger for NEAR Intents.

Token value capture: NEAR Intents product adoption must be separated from NEAR-token fees and demand, which are not yet demonstrated.

UNI — 80, up 4

Uniswap documented permissioned pools for tokenized funds and securities on v4. This makes compliant secondary-market liquidity operationally feasible.

Project adoption: improved infrastructure.

Token value capture: availability alone does not imply material RWA trading volume or UNI burn; neither is inferred here.

XRP and SOL — 84 and 83, both up 2

Both upgrades are supported by current distributed-value growth: XRP Ledger +8.86% to USD 498.75M and Solana +4.00% to USD 4.29B.

Project adoption: stronger.

Token value capture: native-token demand remains less proven than network adoption.

ARB — 68, up 2

Arbitrum approaches USD 1B in RWA value and hosts institutional issuers. ARB is not the network fee token, so capture remains weak.

XDC, NIGHT and others — unchanged

XDC is unchanged because public production-volume evidence remains limited relative to its architecture and narrative. NIGHT is unchanged; the Monument deposit-tokenization plan remains material but early. Lower scores for FET, VIRTUAL, TAO, RENDER and VVV are not negative assessments; those assets belong mainly to the separate GLI24 AI and agentic thesis.

5. What changed in September

• Upgrade — sector score: 82 to 84 as collateral, settlement and distribution infrastructure moved into production.
• Upgrade — LINK: CCIP 2.0, live tokenized-equity pricing on Aave and the DTCC Fulcrum demonstration.
• Upgrade — ONDO: Fund/SERV membership, share-to-token conversion, NEAR Intents distribution and model portfolios.
• Upgrade — AAVE: tokenized equities live as USDC-borrowing collateral on Aave V4.
• Upgrade — NEAR: Ondo Stocks distribution through NEAR Intents across 30+ networks.
• Upgrade — UNI: permissioned pools for tokenized funds and securities.
• Upgrade — XLM, XRP, SOL, ARB: distributed-value and activity growth.
• No upgrade — CC: DTC commercial launch and CC economics not yet public.
• No upgrade — ETH: strong base, but 30-day value declined.
• No upgrade — XDC, NIGHT: evidence remains early or limited.
• Infrastructure milestone — ECB Pontes live for central-bank-money settlement of tokenized assets.
• No index action: scores are research outputs and do not alter GLI24 weights, quantities or methodology.

6. Network and project adoption versus token value capture

A protocol can be excellent tokenization infrastructure while its public token captures little of the resulting activity. That separation remains the core discipline of this report.

7. Sector score and established thresholds

Overall: 84/100 — STRONG ADOPTION, up from 82.

The overall score is a framework judgment, not a simple arithmetic average of the factors. The strongest gain is real collateral and settlement utility; the weakest factor remains token value capture.

Established asset thresholds:

• 90–100: Thesis Leaders
• 70–89: High-Potential Infrastructure
• 40–69: Supporting / Optional Infrastructure
• 0–39: Other GLI24 Thesis or indirect exposure

8. Scenario update through 2027–2028

These are research scenarios, not statistical forecasts. Probabilities are unchanged: one month of strong infrastructure releases in a flat asset-value market does not justify a change.

• Base case, 55%: USD 44–48B distributed RWAs at end-2026 and USD 75–100B at end-2027. The DTC service launches gradually, Pontes adoption grows and collateral use expands selectively. Main beneficiaries by adoption: ETH, LINK, CC, XLM, ONDO and AAVE; token outcomes depend on capture.
• Bull case, 30%: more than USD 50B at end-2026, USD 120–200B at end-2027 and USD 300B+ in 2028. DTC tokenization scales to recurring notional, tokenized equities and funds become collateral and multichain distribution accelerates. LINK, CC, AAVE, ONDO and NEAR gained the largest September evidence boost, while ETH, XLM and SOL gain rail usage.
• Extreme upside, 10%: an institutional domino effect in which a central-bank-money cash leg, 24/7 collateral, interoperable public and private networks and tokenized deposits reach material scale. This has not happened.
• Below-base outcomes, 5%: commercial launches slip, legal and operational fragmentation persists, asset value stagnates and public tokens fail to capture network growth.

9. KPIs for October

• Official DTC Tokenization Service commercial launch date and status, eligible networks and assets.
• DTC-tokenized assets outstanding, monthly tokenized notional, trades, active participants, asset classes and public/private-chain split.
• ComposerX Factory issuances, Capital Markets Platform activity and LedgerScan monitored positions, only if DTCC publishes auditable totals.
• Canton transaction activity tied specifically to DTC assets and resulting CC burn/mint.
• DTCC Fulcrum production status, financed notional, participating institutions, CCIP fees and LINK-linked economics.
• Pontes settlement count and notional, participant growth, operating hours and asset classes.
• Aave tokenized-stock collateral supplied, USDC borrowed, borrowers, liquidations and resulting protocol revenue.
• Ondo distributed value, transfer volume, holders, in-kind share conversions, NEAR Intents flow and Fund/SERV-processed fund activity.
• Uniswap permissioned-pool liquidity, RWA swap volume, active whitelisted users and any UNI-linked fee or burn contribution.
• Ethereum, Stellar, Solana, XRP Ledger, Arbitrum and Polygon distributed-value and transfer-volume trends.
• Native-token capture metrics for ETH, LINK, CC, XLM, XRP, SOL, AAVE, UNI, ONDO and NEAR.

10. GLI24 conclusion

September was flat in distributed asset value, but it was one of the most important months yet for tokenization infrastructure. A central bank put a central-bank-money cash leg into production, a tokenization platform joined a core U.S. fund-processing utility, tokenized equities became borrowable collateral and cross-chain securities financing was demonstrated with DTCC.

The sector is moving from "assets can be tokenized" to "tokenized assets can be settled, distributed and financed." It has not yet reached recurring, publicly reported production notional at DTC scale.

The implication is selective. LINK, ONDO, AAVE and NEAR gained the most September evidence. CC and ETH remain thesis leaders but await DTC launch evidence and RWA-specific attribution. Token value capture remains the weakest link across the stack.

October's test is whether DTCC's commercial service launches as expected and whether September's production releases turn into measurable recurring activity that can be connected to public-token value capture.

Sources

Market data:

• RWA.xyz — Networks overview — distributed and represented asset value, stablecoins, holders, networks (1 October 2026)
• RWA.xyz — Ethereum — network distributed value
• RWA.xyz — Solana — network distributed value
• RWA.xyz — Stellar — distributed value, transfer volume, holders
• RWA.xyz — XRP Ledger — network distributed value
• RWA.xyz — Ondo platform — platform value, holders and transfer volume
• Coinbase Research — Major trends in tokenization — January 2026 baseline of roughly USD 18B
• CoinGecko — RWA Report 2026 — USD 19.32B at 31 March 2026

Central banks:

• ECB — Pontes launch press release — 21 September 2026
• Banque centrale du Luxembourg — Pontes — national central bank communication

DTCC:

• DTCC advances development of new tokenization service — expected October 2026 launch
• DTCC turns tokenization into reality — production trades
• DTCC live production trades — participants, assets and workflows
• DTCC ComposerX — digital-asset platform overview
• ComposerX Factory — issuance capability
• ComposerX Capital Markets Platform — market workflows
• ComposerX LedgerScan — ownership monitoring
• DTCC Fund/SERV adds Ondo Finance as first tokenization member — 16 September 2026
• DTCC and iCapital collaborate on private-market infrastructure — 28 September 2026
• DTCC — Why interoperability matters for the next phase of tokenization — DTCC, Citi and Swift paper
• DTCC tokenization service to connect with Stellar — planned H1 2027 connection

Protocols:

• Ondo — Convert shares to tokenized stocks — Alpaca Instant Tokenization Network
• Ondo — Ondo Stocks go live on NEAR — NEAR Intents distribution and issuer-reported figures
• Ondo — Introducing Intelligent Portfolios — BlackRock-developed model strategies
• Aave — Coinbase tokenized stocks — tokenized equities as collateral on Aave V4
• Aave — Rebuilding securities finance on V4 — Horizon and securities-finance context
• Chainlink — Introducing CCIP 2.0
• Chainlink — Introducing Chainlink Fulcrum — securities-financing workflow
• Chainlink — Sibos 2026 recap — DTCC demonstration
• Uniswap — Introducing permissioned pools on v4
• Uniswap — How permissioned pools work on v4

Reported figures are attributed to the publishing organization. GLI24 does not equate announcements, demonstrations or dashboard totals with production adoption or public-token value capture unless the underlying evidence supports that conclusion.

Disclaimer

Research only. Nothing in this analysis is investment advice, a solicitation or an offer. The RWA / Tokenization Exposure scores are thematic research, not price targets, forecasts or allocation recommendations. GLI24 is a portfolio-weighted thematic research index and not an investable product. This analysis does not change GLI24 constituent weights or index methodology.