StrategSenior Investmentist Juan Leon of digital asset management firm Bitwise believes that Ethereum will benefit from several significant trends in 2025, regaining its dominant position, with the largest driving factor being the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA).
In an article published on Tuesday, Leon pointed out that the two major focuses of the cryptocurrency market in 2024 are Bitcoin’s surge 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 speculation, which has largely overshadowed Ethereum. Although Ether has achieved a good return this year (approximately 66%), it still lags behind Solana’s 106% and Bitcoin’s 130,%.
In Bitwise’s recently published 2025 cryptocurrency forecast report, the company believes that several major real-world trends will shape the cryptocurrency industry in the coming year, including the continued rise of stablecoins and the process of bringing real-world assets ( the proliferation of artificial intelligence agents in cryptocurrency trading. Leon considers the biggest and most underestimated opportunity to be tokenizationsuch as government bonds or real estate) onto the blockchain, with the tokenization market currently dominated by Ethereum.
Leon noted that the tokenization of real-world 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 real-world assets such as government securities, commodities, real estate, and private equity onto the blockchain. For example, BlackRock has a $578 million tokenized government bond fund and plans to scale it up. Bitwise expects the assets of tokenized funds to triple next year, with Ethereum being the driving force behind it.
Leon pointed out that the total value of global real-world assets is approximately $100 trillion, and transferring a significant portion of this to a tokenized framework will take time, potentially even decades. However, if achieved, annual fees from RWA-related assets could exceed $100 billion, which is more than 40 times Ethereum’s total fee revenue of about $2.4 billion year-to-date. Additionally, Leon believes that the new, more cryptocurrency-friendly U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will provide the regulatory clarity needed to accelerate the tokenization process.
Related articles: “21.co Analyst: The Market Value of Tokenized U.S. Treasuries Expected to Reach $3 Billion by Year-End,” “Total Market Value of Tokenized Precious Metals Surpasses $1 Billion, with Gold Tokens PAXG and XAUT Dominating,” “BlackRock’s Tokenized Fund BUIDL Adopts a Multi-Chain Strategy, Expanding to Blockchains like Aptos and Arbitrum.”
