ARK Invest analyst Lorenzo Valente argues that the rise of specialized real-world asset (RWA) marketplaces is poised to redistribute power across decentralized finance (DeFi). As tokenized assets gain traction, he says customer-facing applications could gain greater control over liquidity and revenue flows, reshaping how fees are allocated across the stack without requiring a wholesale shift to application-specific blockchains.
RWA Growth Spurs Venue Specialization
Real-world assets—such as tokenized government bonds, credit products, and real estate—have emerged as one of DeFi’s fastest-developing segments. According to Valente, this expansion is encouraging the formation of specialized trading venues that tailor onboarding, compliance, liquidity management, and settlement to the unique characteristics of RWAs.
In contrast to generalized decentralized exchanges, these specialized venues may differentiate on transparency, risk controls, and counterparties, potentially creating stronger relationships with front-end applications that direct user order flow. As a result, liquidity may become more closely aligned with customer-facing platforms that can negotiate revenue sharing and fee structures with RWA venues.
Shifting Control Over Liquidity and Fees
Valente suggests that as RWA platforms compete for volume, the balance of influence could move toward applications that sit closest to end users. Those applications may be better positioned to steer liquidity across venues, capture a larger share of fees, and align incentives with their user bases.
This dynamic could reshape fee allocation across aggregators, wallets, and protocols, particularly where asset-specific considerations—such as credit risk, redemption terms, and KYC requirements—affect routing decisions. In practice, that may mean front-end platforms and aggregators play a larger role in determining where and how liquidity is deployed.
No Broad Shift to App-Specific Chains
Despite the potential realignment, Valente does not foresee a sweeping migration to app-specific blockchains. Instead, he indicates that these changes can play out on existing layer-1 and layer-2 networks, where modular infrastructure, compliance tooling, and identity solutions allow RWA venues to specialize without forking off into separate ecosystems.
What to Watch
- Growth in tokenized treasuries, credit, and other RWAs drawing users to specialized marketplaces.
- Deeper revenue-sharing agreements between venues and front-end applications that control order flow.
- Evolving fee structures and incentive models reflecting asset-specific risks and compliance needs.
- Interoperability and routing tools that enable applications to allocate liquidity across multiple RWA venues.
ARK Invest is a U.S.-based investment manager known for thematic strategies focused on disruptive innovation. Valente’s analysis highlights how RWA-driven specialization could influence DeFi market structure, particularly around liquidity, fees, and the role of customer-facing platforms.