Chapter 9

Institutional RWA Platforms

2023–2025 brought institutional RWA launches — traditional finance giants tokenizing familiar products on public blockchains. BlackRock BUIDL, Franklin Templeton, and others validated the narrative beyond crypto-native startups.

Institutional entrants share a pattern: regulated off-chain funds, permissioned mint and redeem, and public chain deployment for settlement and composability.

Who is bringing TradFi on chain

Platform	Focus
BlackRock BUIDL	Tokenized treasury fund on Ethereum
Ondo Finance	Treasury and yield products for on-chain capital
Franklin Templeton	On-chain money market fund
Centrifuge	Tokenized private credit pools
Maple Finance	Undercollateralized institutional lending

Retail access often comes indirectly — through protocols holding BUIDL, regulated broker apps, or wrapped products — not open DEX trading in every case.

Institutions care about operational efficiency, same-day settlement, programmable compliance, and access to crypto-native distribution. For many TradFi players, blockchains are infrastructure — not ideology.

Institutional products often require minimum investments and KYC. Compare platforms on asset class, chain, redemption terms, and whether the token is designed for secondary trading or primary fund access only.