Valued at $28.93billion in 2024 and set to hit $49.18billion in 2025, according to The Business Research Company, the blockchain market is thriving. While this growth is in part due to the success of the crypto industry, the blockchain industry is not dependent on crypto. In light of this, this May we are looking to spotlight blockchain’s use cases and where the tech is going next.
Having discussed how the worlds of traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralised finance (DeFi) are merging, we now turn our attention to some of the biggest and most impactful innovations we have seen in the past year.
Tokenisation of real-world assets
Exploring how hybrid models between TradFi and DeFi are becoming the norm, Erick Watson, the co-founder and CEO of Randamu, a provider of secure, verifiable randomness and advanced encryption tools for DeFi protocols, notes the importance of tokenisation in the DeFi sector.
“Among the most impactful DeFi innovations of 2024–2025 are real-world asset (RWA) tokenisation and decentralised credit markets. The tokenisation of U.S Treasury bills, corporate bonds, and real estate has exploded, allowing investors to access yield-bearing assets on-chain with unprecedented liquidity and transparency. Platforms like Centrifuge and Goldfinch are reshaping credit underwriting by connecting emerging-market borrowers to global liquidity pools through DeFi infrastructure.
“DeFi is not replacing TradFi, but reimagining its rails. As institutional demand for secure, composable financial primitives grows, we expect hybrid models to become the norm.”
Echoing similar views about RWA, Sid Powell CEO at Maple Finance, the on-chain asset manager, added: “One of the most important shifts has been the focus on RWA and credit markets moving on-chain. It’s less about launching new tokens and more about building financial products that actually matter — things like short-term lending facilities, tokenised treasuries, and permissioned pools. CeDeFi integrations have also been a key part of this evolution.
“We’re seeing hybrid models emerge, like what Maple is doing with CORE, offering BTC-based yield through custodians, and tokenising basis trades through partnerships like Ethena. Loans are increasingly being done on-chain, but with collateral managed through trusted custodians. There’s also been a cultural change: projects are designing with durability in mind, not just speed. Sustainable, transparent returns have replaced the hype cycles of earlier years, and that’s setting the foundation for long-term adoption.”
Liquid restaking tokens
Julia Burlingham, owner/recovery specialist at crypto recovery platform, professionalcryptorecovery.com, also noted the importance of RWAs while also spotlighting the impact of liquid restaking tokens: “RWAs were the biggest innovation of 2024. Kind of. They were the biggest in that BlackRock is now the biggest player in that game.
“But honestly, the technology for that isn’t new. For years, it’s been possible to add any physical item to an NFT and make the transaction public on the blockchain.
“Liquid Restaking Tokens have also made a massive contribution, allowing people to participate in staking while remaining completely liquid and allowing them to participate in other DeFi aspects with those tokens. It creates a bit more centralization, but overall, it is an amazing concept.”
Taking away the DeFi hype
The development of DeFi has gotten many players in the industry excited about its use cases. However, according to Kurt Wuckert Jr, CEO and founder of the mining company Gorilla Pool, the most important innovations we have seen in the past year are the “boring”, but extremely important changes that enable DeFi to function in a TradFi world.
“The hype cycle is slowing down, and with it slows the liquidity and utility of DeFi. We’ve seen the rise of real-world asset tokenisation, decentralised identity protocols, and stablecoins moving toward enterprise adoption, but there’s so much money spilling into things like BTC ETFs and Michael Saylor’s “Strategy,” both of which are definitively TradFi.
“In DeFi, Ethereum is still the dominant platform, but the fees are absurd. Ether (gas) fees rarely drop below a few dollars, and in periods of congestion, transactions have cost upwards of $1,000. That makes mass adoption nearly impossible with Ethereum. Solana has taken serious market share for that reason, but it doesn’t fundamentally solve the problem. Solana has its own scaling issues.
“Unfortunately, DeFi shouldn’t just be about financial speculation, but most examples still are. The most important innovations are the ones that make DeFi boring: integrated, background-level infrastructure that powers commerce without users needing to think about chains, tokens, or wallets.
“That’s how we scale: by making the tech disappear, and let value move freely and instantly – just like information did during the internet boom. Whoever can do that first will win big, but I’m not seeing a ton of progress here right now!”
Focusing on accessibility
Veronica Wong, the CEO and co-founder of SafePal, the decentralised crypto wallet, notes the impact crypto ETFs have had on mainstream adoption, and explains that the more accessible the innovation, the bigger the impact it will have on the ecosystem.
“With the introduction of the Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, there has been increasing adoption from mainstream users and with it the demand for more familiar and tangible applications and experiences.
“The PayFi vertical has brought about a significant positive impact in this area, by providing users with access to practical real-world use cases while using DeFi. For example, DeFi users are able to stake assets such as Solana to earn yield and rewards via liquid staking platforms, and expense these rewards via a debit card without having to sell the asset itself.
“DeFi innovations which improve accessibility have also become increasingly important, as retail users are looking for seamless and compliant on and off-ramps and banking services. This is also the main reason we integrated a CeDeFi banking gateway in our decentralized software and Telegram wallet, enabling users to have individually owned and crypto-compliant Swiss blockchain bank accounts with Mastercard support.”
