Key takeaways:

• The stablecoin market cap has doubled to $280 billion since 2023, with forecasts hitting $2 trillion by 2028; over half of it already runs on Ethereum.

• Real-world assets onchain have grown 413% since early 2023 to $26.7 billion, with BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and others leading the charge on Ethereum.

• The GENIUS Act and CLARITY Act could pave the way for large-scale institutional adoption and strengthen Ethereum’s role.

Ether (ETH) price has surged 88% in just two months, outpacing most large-cap cryptocurrencies. Some attribute it to the much-awaited altcoin season. Others point to ETH ETFs finally finding their buyers, or the wave of corporate treasuries buying Ether. Yet all that hype feels more like fallout than the real driver. What’s truly powering the rally is the quiet, relentless rise of institutional adoption in crypto.

By securing dominance in two sectors most coveted by traditional finance—stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs)—Ethereum is positioning itself as the smart contract platform of choice. New US regulations, notably the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act, could amplify this trend and accelerate Ethereum’s integration into institutional finance.

Stablecoins are the blood flow of finance

Since the start of the 2023-2026 cycle, the stablecoin market cap has doubled to $280 billion, according to DefiLlama. McKinsey analysts estimate this number to exceed $400 billion by year-end and reach $2 trillion by 2028. Once only serving as trade pairs for other cryptocurrencies, stablecoins have grown into a direct challenger to traditional money-transfer rails — faster, cheaper, more inclusive, and increasingly global.

Ethereum dominates here. Dune Analytics shows 56.1% of all stablecoins run on Ethereum. The math is simple: the more stablecoins take over cross-border payments, the more Ethereum earns in transaction fees.

Regulation now gives this growth legal teeth. The GENIUS Act, signed in July 2025, sets the first federal framework for stablecoins. It mandates one-to-one backing with dollars or short-term Treasurys, public reserve disclosures, and keeps stablecoins out of securities regulation. That makes issuing and using them safer and more predictable, and it ties their growth to US Treasurys and the dollar itself.

RWAs are the next step in bringing financial assets onchain

Tokenized real-world assets have become the poster child of this cycle. The sector is exploding as banks and asset managers discover how much faster it is to move tokenized assets than to wrangle with TradFi mechanisms. Analytics website RWA.xyz puts its growth at 413% since early 2023 — from $5.2 billion to $26.7 billion today.

Major players are driving this shift. BlackRock’s BUIDL, WisdomTree’s WTGXX, and Franklin Templeton’s BENJI now share the same space as crypto-native issuers’ assets, like Tether’s XAUT, Paxos’ PAXG, and Ondo’s OUSG and USDY. This convergence shows how rapidly the line between crypto and traditional finance dissolves.

Ethereum again leads the pack, hosting over $7.6 billion in tokenized real-world assets and capturing 52% of the entire RWA market.

Related: Ether ETFs capture 10x more inflows than Bitcoin in 5 days

Ethereum is the most “mature blockchain”

Ethereum’s advantage lies not only in market share but also in its credibility. It has earned institutional trust as the oldest smart contract platform with 100% uptime and broad decentralization. Cointelegraph has previously highlighted that TradFi increasingly views Ethereum as the most battle-tested and credibly neutral network. Ironically, these same qualities now make Ethereum far more attractive to TradFi than the “private” blockchains once hailed as the finance-ready future.

In a formidable turn of events, the US regulatory shift now puts that contrast into law. The CLARITY Act, passed by the House on July 17 and now awaiting its turn in the Senate, introduces the concept of a “mature blockchain” and draws the line between assets regulated as commodities by the CFTC and those falling under the SEC’s securities oversight. The implications are sweeping for crypto finance and RWAs in particular: any chain meeting the maturity test could host tokenized versions of nearly any asset.

To qualify, no single entity can control the network or own more than 20% of its tokens; the code must be open-source, governance transparent, and participation broad. Ethereum easily clears this bar, making it the obvious choice for institutions preparing to bring the immensity of real-world assets onchain.

As regulation builds the bridge between DeFi and TradFi, Ethereum isn’t just well-positioned; it’s becoming the rails of choice. Think of ETH not as a speculative asset but as a piece of core financial infrastructure. And that kind of reality shift doesn’t just transform ecosystems — it changes price trajectories.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.