Kadena's Osborne Sees $10 Trillion RWA Tokenization Market by 2030

Annelise Osborne, the chief business officer at Kadena, a public Layer-1 PoW blockchain platform, has highlighted the importance of interoperability in driving institutional adoption of digital assets. Osborne emphasized that while the real-world asset (RWA) tokenization market is experiencing rapid growth, the next significant milestone will be achieving seamless connections between different infrastructure components.

Osborne noted that the market for RWA tokenization is expected to reach $10 trillion by 2030, driven by increasing interest from traditional financial institutions, asset managers, and fintech firms. She pointed out that the technology offers faster, cheaper, and more secure transactions, making it a groundbreaking upgrade for the financial sector.

According to Osborne, the adoption of RWA tokenization faces three main hurdles: regulation, education, and interoperability. She mentioned that regulatory clarity is improving in the United States, with the GENIUS act on its way to becoming law, which will offer clear regulation to stablecoins. This regulatory clarity is crucial for institutions that require legal certainty before fully embracing digital assets.

Education is another key factor, as it helps companies understand that blockchain is not just hype but a technological upgrade that can decrease costs and increase revenues. Tokenized funds, for example, offer investors a lower minimum investment alternative due to the back-office cost savings. This makes private investment opportunities more accessible, addressing the growing demand for investing in private companies.

Interoperability, Osborne explained, refers to the seamless integration between new technology and antiquated tech systems within institutions, as well as interoperability within the blockchain ecosystem. Once this infrastructure is in place, the growth of RWA tokenization will be exponential.

Kadena has launched a $50 million grant program to support innovations in Chainweb EVM, RWA tokenization, and AI-driven blockchain use cases. The program is designed to attract builders who understand that the best Layer 2 is actually a scalable Layer 1. Kadena is particularly interested in projects that demonstrate institutional and retail demand, including payments, tokenized assets, and private credit instruments.

Osborne also discussed the launch of the Chainweb EVM Testnet, which aims to attract EVM-native developers and Dapps, scaling secure, compliant DeFi/RWA use cases. The grant program offers developers the opportunity to use familiar tools while benefiting from the security and scalability of Kadena's platform.

Looking ahead, Osborne sees fractionalized tokenization of assets like private credit, real estate, or fine art as a growing trend. Kadena's RWA token standard, which integrates compliance features directly within token contracts, is designed to lower the barrier for everyday investors to participate in these markets securely.

For Kadena, success in the evolving RWA space means becoming the institutional-grade bridge between traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi). The company aims to develop and launch multiple, compliant, institutional-grade RWA projects within a year through its grant program. Kadena offers a scalable multi-chain environment with parallel execution for both its PACT smart contract language and EVM chains, along with institutional-grade compliance and privacy features.

Osborne concluded by expressing excitement about the numerous innovations and ecosystem partners rolling out in the next six months, emphasizing Kadena's commitment to building the next generation of finance by bridging TradFi and DeFi with institutional-grade projects.