Juan Leon, senior investment strategist at digital asset management company Bitwise, believes that Ethereum will benefit from several important trends in 2025, reclaiming its dominant position, with the biggest driving factor being the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA).
In an article published on Tuesday, Leon pointed out that in 2024, the two main focuses of the cryptocurrency market were Bitcoin soaring due to the launch of spot exchange traded funds (ETFs) and record-breaking inflows of funds, and Solana becoming the darling of retail investors under the hype of meme coins, which largely overshadowed Ethereum. Despite Ether’s good returns so far this year (around 66%), it still pales in comparison to Solana’s 106% and Bitcoin’s 130%.
In Bitwise’s recently released 2025 cryptocurrency prediction report, the company believes that several real-world trends will shape the cryptocurrency industry in the coming year, including the continued rise of stablecoins and the proliferation of artificial intelligence agents in cryptocurrency trading. Leon believes that the biggest and most underestimated opportunity among them is tokenization, the process of bringing real-world assets (such as government bonds or real estate, traditional financial assets) onto the blockchain, with the tokenization market currently being dominated by Ethereum.
Leon pointed out that the tokenization of real-world assets is already happening, and the scale of tokenized assets is growing rapidly. He mentioned that enterprises including BlackRock and UBS have begun to introduce government securities, commodities, real estate, private equity, and other real-world assets onto the chain. For example, BlackRock owns a $578 million tokenized government bond fund and plans to expand its scale. Bitwise expects tokenized fund assets to triple next year, with Ethereum being the driving force behind it.
Leon noted that the total value of global real-world assets is approximately $100 trillion, and it will take time, possibly decades, to move most of it onto the tokenized track. However, if achieved, annual fees from RWA-related assets could exceed $100 billion, which is over 40 times the total fee revenue of Ethereum from the beginning of the year to date of around $2.4 billion. Additionally, Leon believes that the new, more crypto-friendly U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will provide the regulatory clarity needed to accelerate the tokenization process.
Related articles: “21.co Analyst: Tokenization of U.S. Treasuries Market Expected to Reach $3 Billion by the End of the Year” “Tokenized Precious Metals Market Surpasses $1 Billion, Gold Tokens PAXG and XAUT Leading the Charge” “BlackRock Tokenized Fund BUIDL Adopts Multi-Chain Strategy, Expanding to Networks like Aptos, Arbitrum”