$3.4 trillion is poised to surge: Are you still waiting and watching on the eve of the RWA tokenization explosion?

As of February 13, 2026, the afterglow of Hong Kong’s Consensus Conference has yet to fade. We are witnessing a historic shift: physical assets are breaking free from the liquidity constraints of the physical world and migrating en masse onto the blockchain.

No longer limited to U.S. Treasuries and private credit. This week, two highly symbolic signals emerged in the sector—aircraft engines and commercial bills—two types of seemingly heavy, non-standardized physical assets that have successfully completed full lifecycle tokenization testing.

The total on-chain market cap of RWA has reached $24.72 billion today, with over 844,200 holders—a monthly growth rate of 34.95%. But this is just the appetizer. Boston Consulting Group once predicted that by 2030, the tokenized asset market could surge to $16 trillion. As the roar of engines and the settlement of bills are integrated into smart contracts, a liquidity supply-side revolution is accelerating.

The Sky as Canvas: How Aircraft Engines Become On-Chain Assets

If you had told an aviation finance professional in 2025 that engines could be sliced into holdings and traded on the secondary market, they would likely think it was science fiction. Yet, in January 2026, ETHZilla, through a newly established subsidiary, completed a $12.2 million aircraft engine acquisition—two CFM56-7B24 engines, currently leased to a major airline.

What makes this transaction special is not just the asset type but its cash flow structure. Engine leasing provides stable rental income, and the leasing rates for this model remain strong amid global supply shortages—projected to grow from $11.17 billion in 2025 to $15.56 billion in 2031 in the global aircraft engine leasing market.

ETHZilla has explicitly partnered with the SEC-regulated alternative trading system Liquidity.io to package such engine assets as compliant on-chain trading targets. RWA in aircraft engines is no longer just a proof of concept but a real asset class with repeatable cash flows.

On-Chain Commercial Bills: The “Instant Settlement” Revolution for 320-Year-Old Financial Instruments

Commercial bills originated in 18th-century European leather markets, and for over three centuries, their settlement efficiency has been limited by paper circulation and banking business days.

This week, Citibank completed a full lifecycle test of bill tokenization on the Solana network. This means a bill representing hundreds of millions of yuan in receivables can be issued, accepted, transferred, and discounted entirely on a distributed ledger.

The value of on-chain bills needs no elaboration: settlement time is compressed from T+3 to seconds, with split units reduced to the $1 level. The assets, once stored in bank safes, can now be priced by global capital markets. This is not just a tool upgrade but a paradigm shift in trade finance.

Regulatory Segmentation: From “Gray Area” to “Special Zone Opening”

During the week of February 13, eight Chinese authorities, including the People’s Bank of China, issued a notice that, for the first time, formally defined RWA through a departmental document, establishing a new paradigm of “segmenting virtual currencies and opening RWA windows.” Although domestic activities are restricted, onshore assets issuing securities tokens abroad are subject to a filing system—equity-type assets are overseen by the CSRC, foreign debt by the NDRC, and offshore RMB-stablecoins require approval.

This marks the industry’s “coming of age.” Compliance is no longer an obstacle but a moat.

In Hong Kong, the first stablecoin licenses are expected to be issued by the end of March, with HSBC and Standard Chartered likely to be among the recipients. On the US and European fronts, the CFTC has revised the definition of payment stablecoins, clarifying that national trust banks can serve as issuers; the European Parliament is accelerating legislation for the digital euro.

Gold and Green Assets: The Diversified Narrative of RWA

Gold RWAs are also heating up. Yesterday (February 12), Starry Chain Group announced a strategic partnership with China Digital Finance to tokenize gold RWA, leveraging Hong Kong’s regulatory framework to build a large-scale asset-backed digital reserve ecosystem. The news boosted their stock price by over 50%.

Meanwhile, Middle Eastern capital is accelerating its influx. Dubai’s BlueRock Capital committed an initial $1 million investment into the green asset protocol OnGreen, connecting the Middle East’s $186 billion green transition plan with Asia’s RWA compliance experience. Desert governance and carbon credits are being transformed into income-generating digital assets.

Data Perspective: Holder Address Growth Surpasses Market Cap, User Base Expands First

As of February 13, the total market cap of on-chain RWA is $24.72 billion, up 12.82% month-over-month; the total number of holders exceeds 844,200, a surge of 34.95% MoM.

User growth is nearly three times the market cap increase. This is a typical “people before money” bullish sign. Although the total stablecoin market cap dipped slightly to $297.6 billion, monthly transfer volume soared to $9.88 trillion, with a turnover rate of 33.2 times—indicating highly efficient capital utilization and strong large-scale settlement demand.

Retail investor sentiment is recovering from the lows, with monthly active addresses rebounding to 51.13 million, an 8.6% increase MoM.

RWA Tokens on Gate: Today’s Prices and Focus Points

For secondary market participants, Gate has listed 64 RWA sector tokens, covering a broad range from government bond tokenization to real estate equity tokens.

As a flagship project, RWA Inc. aims to build the world’s first stock tokenization trading platform. As of February 13, RWA tokens are trading at $0.0028 on Gate, with a 24-hour trading range of $0.0028–$0.0029. The 52-week volatility range is $0.0027–$0.1199, with a current market cap of approximately $5.28 million and a circulating supply of 1.8 billion tokens.

Fundamentally, RWA Inc. has tokenized $2.2 billion in real assets, staked $50 million in BTC, and launched a $100 million loan service. The number of holder addresses exceeds 17,652. Despite an over 80% correction from its all-time high, ecosystem development continues.

It’s important to note concentration risk: the top five addresses hold a combined 72.49% of the supply, with the largest single address holding 22.89%. This indicates the asset still exhibits early-stage project characteristics, with high volatility, suitable for professional investors with risk appetite.

Summary

By early 2026, the RWA sector no longer needs to explain “why to put on-chain.”

This week’s industry developments clearly highlight two main themes: on the asset side, the successful tokenization of non-standard physical assets like aircraft engines and bills proves RWA’s scope far exceeds traditional securities; on the regulatory side, China, the US, and Europe are simultaneously building compliant frameworks, paving the way for trillions of dollars to enter.

Liquidity doesn’t flow automatically into assets but moves toward more efficient market structures.

When engine leasing cash flows can be split into tokens at $0.0028 each, and bill settlements are reduced from three days to three seconds, capital has no reason to stay confined to the old world. This wave of RWA explosion isn’t about the crypto industry replacing traditional finance but about traditional finance integrating with and elevating blockchain technology.

At Gate, we continue to provide liquidity gateways for this elevation. Whether you’re an institutional investor interested in aircraft engine RWAs or a retail user seeking alpha in the sector, the RWA narrative has grown from experimental fringe to mainstream compliance.