The trading volume of tokenized gold reached $90.7 billion in Q1, exceeding 2025's total, driven by strong demand and asset availability.
In a remarkable turn of events, the trading volume for tokenized gold reached $90.7 billion in the first quarter of the year, eclipsing the entire volume recorded for 2025, which stood at $84.64 billion. This surge, highlighted by CoinGecko, underscores a significant uptick in investor interest and the growing availability of these assets on various trading platforms.
PAXG from Paxos and XAUT from Tether remain the leading tokens in this market, with PAXG's trading share fluctuating between 34.2% and 82.5%, while XAUT varied from 14.8% to 64.6%. Over the past 15 months, PAXG has averaged trading volumes of $5.72 billion, while XAUT had an average of $5.32 billion.
RWA Market Expands Over Threefold
The market for tokenized real-world assets (RWA) has witnessed a staggering growth of 256.7% over the past 15 months, climbing from $5.42 billion at the start of 2025 to $19.32 billion by March 31, 2026. This category now comprises 6.4% of the stablecoin market, a rise from 2.7% at the beginning of the previous year.
U.S. Treasury bonds continue to dominate, with their volume increasing by $9 billion (225.5%). Despite this growth, their market share has dipped from 73.7% to 67.2%. By the end of the first quarter, tokenized commodities accounted for 28.7% of the RWA market, while stocks and ETFs made up 2.5% and 1.5%, respectively, indicating a rapid rise in these categories.
The digitized securities segment, introduced in mid-2025, has surged from $2.09 million to $486.69 million, with Circle emerging as the largest asset at $171.39 million. The trading volume for these stocks in the first quarter was reported at $15.12 billion, although they still represent less than 1% of traditional stock market volumes.
Tokenized ETFs have also seen significant growth, with their market cap jumping from $620,000 in July 2025 to $297.5 million by March 2026. The SPDR S&P 500 fund holds a leading 10.9% market share, closely followed by iShares Silver Trust at 10.7%.
Record Highs in Perpetual RWA Trading
The trading volumes for perpetual contracts on RWA have set new records, surpassing $524 billion, a notable increase from the total of $313.02 billion for all of 2025. This marks the fourth consecutive quarter of growth in this sector.
The average daily open interest for these assets reached $4.82 billion, more than five times the amount from a year prior. Approximately 30% of trading activity is attributed to HIP-3 markets on Hyperliquid, which reported trading volumes of $130 billion in the first quarter, up from just $12.6 billion in October 2025.
However, the International Monetary Fund has issued a cautionary note, suggesting that the rapid expansion of the RWA market could pose risks to the global financial system as it continues to grow.
