Stablecoins, Tokenization of Physical Assets, and Decentralized Finance: The Three Catalysts Driving the Reevaluation of Ethereum's Value

Recently, cryptocurrency-related stocks have performed well, drawing investors' attention to several important questions: Where will market growth come from after the stablecoin bill is passed? Why have certain tokens surged due to Ethereum's hotspots? What is the relationship between the tokenization of real assets (RWA) and Ethereum? Why is there still optimism for ETH despite short-term price fluctuations? This article will systematically address these questions from a fundamental logic and long-term perspective.

The rise of Ethereum is not driven by individual institutions, but rather a collective choice of mainstream institutions as they reshape their strategies; the critical point of trend change is about to arrive.

1. Trends from the Data

The total market capitalization of stablecoins has reached a historic high of $258.3 billion, and the progress of the U.S. stablecoin bill is smooth. The Hong Kong stablecoin regulations will take effect on August 1. The U.S. Treasury Secretary predicts that if the U.S. bill is passed, the scale of stablecoins will expand to over $2 trillion in the coming years. The market value of RWA has grown by 460% within a year to $24.3 billion.

By 2030-2034, 10%-30% of global assets may be tokenized, amounting to $40-120 trillion, which is more than 1000 times the current amount.

Mainstream institutions are actively positioning themselves:

• BlackRock BUIDL Fund: A blockchain-based tokenization dollar-pegged fund, AUM $2.86 billion, 95% deployed on Ethereum.

• Securitize: Collaborating with multiple institutions to issue tokenized products, with a market value of $3.7 billion, 80% deployed on Ethereum.

• Franklin Templeton BENJI Fund: tokenized fund, AUM 743 million USD, 10% deployed on Ethereum.

2. Re-examining RWA

RWA refers to the digitization of real-world assets into on-chain tokens through blockchain. Its advantages include:

1. Programmability: Achieving asset management automation through smart contracts.

2. Settlement Revolution: Achieve instant peer-to-peer settlements and reduce risks.

3. Liquidity Revolution: Segment low liquidity assets to improve trading efficiency.

4. Global Accessibility: Break geographic limitations and expand the investor base.

Main tokenization fields:

1. Private Credit: Largest RWA sector, scale of $14.3 billion.

2. Government bonds: a scale of 7.4 billion USD, a traditional institutional entry point.

3. Stocks: Kraken and others have launched tokenized stocks, while Coinbase is actively seeking regulatory approval.

4. Product: primarily based on gold.

5. Private Equity: Actively exploring.

3. stablecoin-RWA-DeFi ecosystem

Stablecoins are the foundation of traditional finance integrating with blockchain, making currency programmable. The rapid development of RWA stems from institutional exploration of compliant integration. DeFi will play a role in promoting the fusion of new on-chain assets with mature protocols.

RWA and DeFi Integration Case:

1. Securitize connects DeFi through sTokens:

   • BlackRock BUIDL integrates with the Euler lending protocol
   • Apollo ACRED integrates with the Morpho protocol

2. Ethena's USDtb integrates BUIDL for stable returns: USDtb 90% reserve invested in BUIDL fund, providing collateral for trading.

4. ETH is currently the mainstream choice for institutions

ETH accounts for 58.41% of the total market value of RWA, while its L2 ZKsync Era accounts for 17.47%. Reasons for institutions choosing ETH:

1. Highest Security: No major issues for ten years, strong upgrade capability.

2. Mature DeFi ecosystem and liquidity: Quick access to mature systems.

3. Highly decentralized and globally accessible: Balance of interests center.

Etherealize believes:

• ETH is a new type of asset: the "digital oil" powering the new financial system.
• ETH is difficult to value using traditional methods and should be assessed from the perspective of strategic value and scarcity.
• The ETH repricing process is accelerating: institutional demand is surging, staking yields are attractive, strategic accumulation is happening, and the status of reserve assets is being enhanced.

In summary, ETH is currently the optimal solution for large-scale asset on-chain. Combined with data, cases, and underlying logic, a trend of renewed emphasis on ETH is forming.