Standard Chartered Says $4T Tokenized Assets Will Ignite DeFi Boom by 2028

On May 19 Standard Chartered reiterated its $4 trillion tokenized-assets forecast for end-2028, split evenly between stablecoins and real-world assets. The bank now stresses that DeFi protocols will become core infrastructure for trading, lending and collateral, citing Coinbase’s Morpho-linked product holding $1.75 billion in loans and BlackRock’s BUIDL fund that has attracted roughly $2.7–2.85 billion. The outlook builds on May 18 reports highlighting 24/7 yield-bearing products and names clearer U.S. rules via the CLARITY Act plus improved security after recent exploits as key catalysts for institutional flows into Ethereum-based rails.