Opinion: Aishwary Gupta, Global Head of Payments and RWA, Polygon Labs
Most of the eye-popping RWA numbers that make headlines are smoke and mirrors. Unless the industry corrects course, it risks undermining the credibility of the institutions it has spent years building. Every week, new announcements are made claiming billions in tokenized assets. But when institutional investors ask for basic details, the answer becomes mysteriously vague.
OpenAI was forced to distance itself from Robinhood’s claims that it was providing access to tokenized stock, clarifying that this did not represent a substantive stake in the company. In May 2025, the SEC charged Unicoin with misleading investors by exaggerating the value of tokenized real estate transactions.
From continuing double-counting issues to the opaque legal status of many tokens, it is clear that the RWA revolution still faces major obstacles to gaining credibility.
This is clearly detrimental to the institutional adoption that everyone claims they want. The industry’s obsession with vanity metrics undermines the very credibility that RWA needs, so the ecosystem can free up trillions of institutional capital waiting on the sidelines.
Vanity Metric Industrial Park
“The biggest risk today is assuming that only legitimate wrappers and blockchains create value,” Forbes quoted Token Metrics CEO Ian Ballina as saying. “Without real composability, a reliable secondary market, and reliable storage, tokenized assets will remain on marketing decks rather than investment portfolios.”
Related: RWA platform enters new phase, expanding compliant access to on-chain assets
He’s right. Treating the numbers on your dashboard as if they’re the be-all and end-all is clearly harmful. All exaggerated claims make it difficult for legitimate projects to be taken seriously. Pension fund due diligence teams have no interest in selecting genuine developments if they cannot distinguish between real developments and phantom TVL. They would rather leave completely.
The entire value proposition of blockchain is transparency and verifiability. But here we are asking institutions to trust numbers that they cannot (or will not) prove.
solve trust issues
Chains that cannot demonstrate verifiable activity or regulatory integrity not only put their own users at risk, but undermine the integrity of the entire blockchain ecosystem. They are inflating expectations and undermining trust in the whole concept of tokenization.
To maintain momentum and realize the benefits of RWA, there is an urgent need for a transparent and regulated rollout aligned with actual adoption, rather than fabricated metrics.
What does true RWA adoption look like? A good place to start is Wyoming. In September, Equality State launched America’s first state-backed stablecoin FRNT, with full regulatory approval and fully auditable reserves. Or let’s look at Japan. In Japan, JPYC has emerged as a compliant yen stablecoin, creating new demand for Japanese government bonds. These projects solve real payment problems. These aren’t just dashboards with volumes moving back and forth.
The adoption of RWA is also similar to the Philippines’ efforts to put government budget records on-chain, with the aim of combating corruption and increasing transparency in public spending. This type of dashboard means millions of citizens can see their government’s financial records in real time. It’s the adoption that matters.
BlackRock’s BUIDL fund currently has more than $1 billion in assets under management. This fund brings institutional-level money market funds on-chain. Meanwhile, Apollo’s ACRED brings blockchain efficiency to credit market operations. These are regulated financial instruments with real capital and real users.
Stripe’s decision to integrate blockchain rails into global payments was driven by the need to leverage the chain based on real transaction volume and reliability, rather than social media engagement.
transparency test
Blockchains that claim RWA leadership need only present us with funds. TVL numbers are too easy. Can you show us the regulatory approvals? Are the institutional partners willing to go on record? What are the transaction volumes to prove that people are actually using these assets? Can we audit the smart contracts? Can we confirm the reserves?
There are many legitimate RWA initiatives taking place across the ecosystem, but unless we establish standards that demonstrate real adoption, we risk being drowned out by the hype.
You don’t need hype to get excited about the RWA revolution. Actual implementation would be accomplished through municipal bond issuance, saving cities 50 basis points. Or cross-border payments that clear in seconds instead of days. This can arise from small and medium-sized enterprises accessing previously closed credit markets.
That’s not to say numbers aren’t important. Handing over $1 billion in RWA means nothing if those assets cannot be audited, settled, or traded. The next frontier is not dashboard bloat. We’re building trust. Projects that embrace verifiability, regulatory clarity, and configurable yields will define RWA 2.0 and attract trillions of dollars still waiting to go on-chain.
Once transparency and accountability are established, RWA will reach greater heights and trillions of dollars of institutional capital will be freed up.
Opinion: Aishwary Gupta, Global Head of Payments and RWA at Polygon Labs.
This article is for general informational purposes only and is not intended to be, and should not be taken as, legal or investment advice. The views, ideas, and opinions expressed herein are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.