Bitget CEO Gracy Chen said the tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs) could reshape capital flows and reduce reliance on the U.S. dollar, provided regulatory clarity and infrastructure improve.
What Happened: "If RWAs fulfill their promise, they could reshape global capital flows in profound ways," Chen told Benzinga in an interview. "By making high-quality assets accessible worldwide, they could reduce reliance on the U.S. dollar as the default settlement currency. That shift won't happen overnight, but the writing is on the wall."
Chen emphasized that markets should prepare for this transition with multi-currency settlement systems, robust hedging tools, and regulatory frameworks that enable global participation.
Stablecoins, she added, will remain central to the shift by serving as "the connective tissue between RWAs, DeFi, and traditional markets."
She described regulatory clarity as the biggest obstacle to widespread adoption, noting that institutions remain hesitant without firm rules on securities classification and cross-border compliance.
"Custody and interoperability also remain pain points," she said, pointing to the challenge of safely holding tokenized assets and enabling seamless transfers across different blockchains.
Liquidity, she added, must deepen before RWAs can scale meaningfully.
Despite hurdles, Chen argued that RWAs are the "logical next step" after stablecoins in bridging traditional and decentralized finance.
"Imagine unlocking trillions in illiquid assets—real estate, private credit, even art—and making them tradable, composable, and accessible through DeFi. That's not just a new product set—it's an entirely new market structure."
Also Read: Buckle Up Dollar Bulls, China Is Reportedly Considering Its Own Yuan-Linked Stablecoins
Why It Matters: Her comments come as Bitget announced the launch of the world's first RWA Index Perpetual Contracts.
The contracts, set to go live on Aug. 20, will allow users to trade tokenized traditional assets such as TSLAUSDT (RWA), NVDAUSDT (RWA), and CRCLUSDT (RWA), tokenized versions of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Circle (NASDAQ:CRCL) stock.
Bitget said the indices will aggregate pricing data from multiple token issuers to ensure fair and flexible pricing.
"These contracts bridge the gap between TradFi and DeFi by giving traders exposure to tokenized stocks in a familiar perpetual format," Chen said.
At launch, pricing will draw from issuers on the xStocks platform, with additional providers expected later this quarter. Leverage will be capped at 10x and only isolated margin mode supported to mitigate early-stage risks.
For Chen, success in RWAs will hinge on both credibility and usability. "When big names like BlackRock enter tokenization, credibility rises—but so does competition," she said.
"Differentiation will come from radical transparency, bulletproof compliance, and seamless user experience. Whoever makes RWA access as easy as buying Bitcoin will win,” Chen said.
Read Next:
Image: Shutterstock
