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Onchain Economics
DeFi Primitives

Real World Assets(RWA)

Traditional financial assets like treasuries, real estate, or private credit that have been tokenized and brought on-chain.

In-Depth Explanation

RWAs bridge TradFi and DeFi. Tokenized treasuries (Ondo, Mountain) offer on-chain yield backed by T-bills. Private credit protocols (Maple, Centrifuge) bring real-world loans on-chain. RWAs provide DeFi with sustainable, uncorrelated yield sources but reintroduce counterparty risk and regulatory complexity that crypto-native assets avoid.

Related Terms

Tokenization

Converting ownership rights in real-world assets into blockchain tokens.

Treasury

Protocol-owned assets held in smart contracts, typically controlled by governance for funding development and operations.

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Automated Market Maker

AMM

A smart contract that provides liquidity and enables trading using a mathematical formula instead of an order book.

Liquidity Pool

LP

A smart contract holding paired assets that enables trading, lending, or other DeFi activities.

Collateralized Debt Position

CDP

A loan where users deposit collateral to mint or borrow assets, with liquidation risk if collateral value falls.

Lending Protocol

A DeFi application that matches lenders with borrowers through smart contracts, enabling permissionless borrowing and lending.

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