Real world assets aren’t just a narrative. They are a phase change for the cryptocurrency industry. The new episode of Diamond Rhino breaks all that down. In detail. With charm.
But before we get to that… First! If you like the podcast so far, it would be great if you subscribed via one of your favorite mobile pod players.1 Here’s some helpful links for you to find the show wherever you tend to listen:
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Thank you!
So. The fate of the crypto markets will no longer be hermetically sealed against the real economy, inside the balances in Coinbase and Kraken accounts or inside Metamask wallets.
No, in the real world asset future, on-chain will meet Main Street at scale.
The way this has been discussed so far, to me, has sounded like real world assets would just be the new corner of crypto. As if there’s memecoins and NFTs and Bitcoin and now we’ve got real world assets, too.
That’s not right. Once real world assets reach adequate scale, the liquidity, the volume growth, the blockchain-to-reality connection, it’s going to reach every corner of this whole market.
To research this episode I went through a slew of discussions of real-world assets and it only gave me greater conviction that crypto has not had a real cycle yet. The true cycle will kick in once the real world asset flywheel really begins spinning.
Sure this is all bullish, but I see something else, to. There’s a thesis at the end that I’ve been kicking around a while but haven’t talked about too much yet.
So come for the breakdown. Stay for the lowdown.
Show notes:
Unlocking Trillions of Dollars with RWAs (Real World Assets)
The Defiant
Lucas Vogelsang, Centrifuge
October 16, 2023
Tokenizing Real World Assets — with Robert Leshner of Superstate
Bankless
March 12, 2024
Unlocking Trillions: Sergey Nazarov On Tokenizing Real World Assets & The White House Crypto Summit
Wolf of All Streets
March 16, 2025
Are Tokenized Stocks Real?
Bankless
Gabriel Otte, founder of Dinari
July 14, 2025
The State Of DeFi Lending With Mary Gooneratne
Lightspeed
Mary Gooneratne, Loopscale
Aug 19, 2025
The Future of Finance is Tokenized: Ondo’s Vision for RWAs
The Defiant
Ian De Bode, Chief Strategy Officer at Ondo Finance
Sept 2, 2025
State of Crypto 2025: The Latest Data, Trends, and Themes Revealed
a16z Crypto
October 22, 2025
Most Tokenization Projects Fail. Here’s Why One Succeeded
Unchained — Bits & Bips
Figure CEO Mike Cagney
Dec 20, 2025
Real-World Asset Summit Brooklyn 2025: The Path to $1T Onchain
Real World Asset Summit
Vivek Raman, Etherealize
Sep 30, 2025
Real World Asset Summit. Debate 2025
Jenn Senhaji, Chronicle.
Sept 18, 2025
Mary Gooneratne, Co-Founder of Loopscale, on 11AM w/ Seed Club
11AM Seed Club
Mary Gooneratne, Loopscale
Sept 12, 2025
Talking Tokenization: Tokenizing the Future of Credit Markets
Talking Tokens
Mary Gooneratne, Loopscale
Jan 8, 2026
Other useful materials:
Figure Goes Public As HELOC Growth, Marketplace Vision Take Center Stage
National Mortgage Professional
Sept. 12, 2025
Figure’s flash crash sends $13bn worth of blockchain loans flying
DL News
Oct. 27, 2025
Ondo and Pantera Capital earmark $250 million for real-world asset tokenization
Axios
July 3, 2025
BlackRock tokenized fund overtakes Franklin Templeton
Axios
May 1, 2024
Centrifuge turns real world assets into loans
Axios
Sept 23, 2022
Planet Money: We Bought a Toxic Asset
NPR
2010-2011
And if you’re dying for more, today’s episode is a natural follow up to this one:
If you’re curious, apparently this brand new show is doing much better than normal new podcasts, though it’s still small. It’s just that most new podcasts hardly have anyone listening, and this one has literally dozens of downloads. That’s actually encouraging! So if you like it, it would be great to lock it in where you normally listen to other shows.
