Introduction
Developer activity is one of the most reliable indicators of long-term blockchain growth. Santiment has released its latest ranking of real-world asset focused crypto projects based on development activity over the last 30 days, offering a data-driven look at which ecosystems are building the most aggressively in the RWA sector.
Why Developer Activity Matters for RWA
Real-world asset tokenization requires deep infrastructure work: custody tooling, compliance layers, oracles, smart contract frameworks and integrations with traditional finance systems. Price action alone rarely reflects this progress early on, while GitHub activity often does.
High developer engagement usually signals:
• long-term protocol commitment
• active product iteration
• institutional-grade infrastructure development
Santiment Top 10 RWA Projects by Developer Activity
- Hedera HBAR
Hedera continues to lead in enterprise-grade tokenization, leveraging its hashgraph architecture for high-throughput RWA issuance, carbon markets and enterprise integrations. - Chainlink LINK
Chainlink remains the backbone of tokenized asset infrastructure through its oracle stack, cross-chain interoperability protocol and increasing focus on institutional RWA settlement. - Avalanche AVAX
Avalanche’s subnet architecture positions it well for asset-specific blockchains, including permissioned RWA networks used by financial institutions. - Stellar XLM
Stellar’s focus on payments, remittances and onchain asset issuance makes it a natural platform for stablecoins and tokenized financial instruments. - Chia Network XCH
Chia’s UTXO-based smart coin model is increasingly explored for regulated financial assets, offering native compliance tooling for RWA applications. - Axelar AXL
Axelar’s cross-chain infrastructure is becoming a critical layer for RWA projects that need interoperability between multiple execution environments. - IOTA IOTA
IOTA is targeting tokenized trade finance, supply chain data and IoT-linked asset issuance, blending distributed ledger tech with real-world data flows. - VeChain VET
VeChain continues to build tokenization frameworks for logistics, carbon credits and enterprise-grade asset provenance. - Injective INJ
Injective is pushing into tokenized derivatives and onchain capital markets, positioning itself as an execution layer for financialized RWAs. - OriginTrail TRAC
OriginTrail focuses on decentralized knowledge graphs that underpin asset verification, traceability and onchain compliance tooling.
What This Ranking Tells Us About the RWA Sector
The diversity of this list shows that RWA is not owned by a single chain. Instead, it is forming across multiple layers:
• base layer settlement networks
• oracle and interoperability providers
• execution layers optimized for finance
• data and compliance tooling protocols
This multi-layer stack is what ultimately enables real-world assets to move from pilots into production markets.
BTCUSA Insight
Price action often lags infrastructure by months or even years. Santiment’s developer activity data suggests that the real competition in RWA is happening quietly in GitHub repositories rather than on trading charts. The chains investing heavily in tooling, compliance layers and interoperability today are likely to become the backbone of tokenized finance tomorrow.
Conclusion
Santiment’s latest ranking offers a rare look beneath the surface of the RWA narrative. While hype cycles come and go, developer activity shows which ecosystems are actually laying the groundwork for real-world asset adoption at scale.
