As the real-world asset (RWA) market grows rapidly, private credit-based tokenisation is emerging as a key area.

On May 26 local time, blockchain outlet Cointelegraph reported that Bernstein Research said the RWA market expanded to about $51 billion this year. It said tokenised private credit accounted for about 44 percent of the total.

That is larger than the $34 billion tallied by industry statistics platform RWA.xyz. Bernstein explained that differences arise because institutions use different criteria to classify tokenised assets. It analysed that private credit is often operated by combining special purpose vehicles (SPVs), custodians and on-chain and off-chain structures, making it likely that some items were omitted from existing statistics.

Blockchain-based lending infrastructure sits at the centre of the market's expansion. Tokenised private credit records loan contracts on blockchain networks without going through traditional financial institutions. Investors directly provide funds and receive interest, while companies can raise capital in a more flexible way. Bernstein assessed that as this structure spreads rapidly across the broader loan and fund management markets, institutional inflows are also increasing.

A leading example cited was BlackRock's tokenised money market fund, BUIDL. BUIDL's assets under management topped $2.5 billion. Tokenised assets linked to U.S. Treasuries also remain a major pillar of the market. Bernstein said U.S. Treasury-related assets accounted for about 30 percent of the total RWA market, while tokenised commodities were tallied at about 14 percent.

By platform, Figure Technology Solutions ranked first. Figure's tokenised assets totalled about $18 billion, mostly made up of assets linked to private credit. It was followed by Securitize and Paxos, each shown to be managing about $4.2 billion of assets.

Figure's growth was also notable. Bernstein said Figure has tokenised about $5 billion in consumer loans this year, and that April's monthly loan originations hit a record $1.3 billion. It also said Figure's Credit Marketplace Connect processed 56 percent of total loan volume in the first quarter this year.

In the industry, private credit is seen as moving beyond a niche market to become a core pillar of the RWA sector. Ross Shemeliak (로스 셰멜리악), co-founder of Stobox, said, "Investors want high returns and companies need capital." He said, "Private credit is one of the fastest-growing RWA areas that meets both of these needs at the same time."

The market is also seeing analysis that the trend shows the RWA ecosystem expanding beyond simple tokenisation of government bonds into loans, funds and derivatives. On-chain derivatives exchange Hyperliquid is seeing a surge in RWA-related trading. Bernstein said Hyperliquid's RWA-related open interest reached $2.6 billion as of May, and April trading volume totalled $65 billion.

The industry also sees standardisation as an important task, as RWA market size can differ widely depending on measurement criteria, including which assets to include in the RWA category.