Real-world asset tokenization protocols have seen explosive growth over the last year with the total value locked (TVL) across the sector surging to a new all-time high.

In a May 1 post to X, blockchain analytics and research firm Messari wrote that TVL for real-world asset (RWA) protocols had spiked to almost $8 billion as of April 26.

The analytics firm shared that RWA protocols had witnessed “a remarkable resurgence,” over the past year, adding that the sector’s growth had been driven by a “market preference for debt-based, high-yield investments.”

The $8 billion TVL figure excludes fiat-backed stablecoins such as Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) and includes carry trade protocols, underwriting, yield-bearing stablecoins, commodities, securities, and real estate tokenization protocols.

Since February, the TVL in RWA protocols has surged by almost 60%.

Decentralized finance analytics platform DeFiLlama provided a slightly lower figure of $6 billion in combined TVL for RWA protocols. It also shows a monumental growth of around 700% in protocol TVL since the beginning of 2023.

Notably, the total value locked is not the only metric that has experienced impressive growth this year.

The number of active users on RWA protocols has also surged since February — denoting an increase in the sector's popularity among smaller retail users, per Dune Analytics data.

Related: Gold, real estate and more: Legal infrastructure for real-world asset tokenization industry

Protocols such as digital carbon market platforms Toucan and KlimaDAO, and real estate tokenization protocol Propy have seen the lion’s share of that growth in terms of active users. 

Tokenized Treasuries have also seen huge growth as yields remain high in an environment of high inflation and interest rates in the United States.

There is currently a record $1.29 billion locked in tokenized U.S. treasuries and bonds, according to RWA.xyz. This figure has surged by 80% since the beginning of 2024, primarily driven by protocols such as Securitize and Ondo.

The recent performance of BlackRock’s Ethereum-based Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) — which has just become the world’s largest tokenized treasury fund — and the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX) have contributed heavily to the growth of this corner of the RWA market.

Magazine: 7 ICO alternatives for blockchain fundraising: Crypto airdrops, IDOs & more