Tokenization in the second half: Liquidity determines victory or loss, circulation is no longer king

According to Woofun AI, 2027 has been established as a decisive year for the development of tokenized assets. This judgment is not based on speculation, but is based on clear signals from current market data. Although thousands of stocks, commodities, private companies, and index products have been added to the chain, the distribution of trading volume is extremely uneven. RootData's analysis shows that the underlying logic of industry competition has fundamentally shifted: the winner no longer depends on who can distribute the most products, but who can actually complete efficient asset distribution and execution. The winners of the future will be platforms that can transform an extensive product catalog into centralized liquidity, facilitate repeat transactions, and achieve a continuous return of users.

In terms of distribution patterns, head concentration effects coexist with user retention challenges. Currently, the tradable value of tokenized shares has reached $29.1 billion and is jointly held by 3.17 million holders. The negotiable value here specifically refers to the market value of tokens that can leave the development platform and be freely transferred between wallets. Over the past 30 days, this value has increased by 7.43%, while the number of holders surged by 174.29%, and the population is expanding far faster than the rate of capital accumulation.

According to data compiled by Woofun AI, the average holder only holds about $918 per holder. This structure is more biased towards the first attempt at a small wallet rather than an institutional configuration. Although monthly transfers reached $13.31 billion (about 4.6 times the negotiable value), they declined by 52.65% over the same period, indicating that access rights expanded much faster than usage habits. Together, Ondo, bStocks, and xStocks control approximately 72% of the reported tokenized share value, and these three companies have absolute influence on escrow, redemption, network selection, and liquidity accumulation. For other competitors, instead of issuing hundreds of almost untraded tokens, it is better to build a product with a small product line but clear legal rights, reliable redemption mechanisms, and sufficient ledger depth to absorb actual orders to establish a more stable business foundation.

The trading venue game shows a stark contrast between centralized backflow and on-chain share shrinking. Cumulative RWA perpetual contract trading volume in 2026 is highly concentrated: Binance processed $1.59 trillion, Hyperliquid $542.8 billion, OKX $345.1 billion, and Bitget $238.2 billion. Together, these four platforms account for about 86% of the total $3.16 trillion market.

Notably, Hyperliquid is the only on-chain venue in this group, accounting for 17.2% of the total trading volume. However, with the rise of stock perpetual contracts, traders are returning to centralized order books. The on-chain market share fell sharply from around 45% in December to 13% in August, while Binance's monthly share climbed to 54.1%. Comparing the trading volume with the number of listings, the mismatch was highlighted: Gate had 405 transaction codes, but only $148.5 billion was liquidated; Binance cleared $1.59 trillion with 179 codes alone; Bitget's 302 codes brought in $238.2 billion; Bybit's 224 codes brought in $105.2 billion; OKX's 168 codes brought in $345.1 billion; Hyperliquid's 161 codes brought $542.8 billion. CoinMarketCap Research's 19-place data set further confirmed this trend.

In terms of asset preferences, scarce access has become a core variable driving real trading demand. Market trading hotspots revolve around semiconductors, leveraged tech products, crypto-sensitive stocks, commodities, and private companies. SanDisk (SNDK), SOXL ETF (SOXL.US) (SOXL), SK Hynix (SKHYNIX), Micron (MU.US) (MU), and SpaceX (SPCX) are among the top assets. RootData's earlier Binance snapshot showed gold (XAU) trading volume of $1.79 billion per day, SK Hynix (SKHYNIX) at $1.61 billion, and SpaceX (SPCX) at $1.17 billion.

Each of these assets meets specific needs: gold provides macro exposure, SK Hynix is the best way to trade AI memory cycles, and SpaceX opens doors that traditional channels can't get into. SK Hynix was only able to trade in the Korean market until it went public in the US through ADR, and tokenization solved this access problem. In contrast, replicating highly liquid US stocks has had little effect, as traditional brokers have met this demand in a cheap and high-quality manner.

The outlook for the future indicates that the industry is moving from expanding the catalogue to verifying sustainable liquidity. The key indicators for evaluating the issuer's performance should shift to the number of holders with repeated transactions, redemption activity, and transfers per holder rather than the cumulative number of issued assets. These metrics can more clearly reveal whether users have tried it once or are continuously engaged, thereby depicting the sustainability of the underlying business. At the asset level, private companies, Asian equities, commodities, and thematic baskets provide investors with clear reasons to use the crypto market due to real access gaps. Assets that are difficult to trade in traditional financial markets or are limited by time and space are the best opportunities for tokenization. Assets that are easily covered by traditional brokers are difficult to attract sufficient on-chain demand by copying alone. This year, the industry has expanded its potential through a wide range of products, and the coming year will reveal which platforms can generate repeat transactions and sustainable liquidity. Companies that combine hard-to-obtain asset access with credible legal rights, reliable operating structures, and sufficient liquidity will lead market growth.