Authored by Zoltan Vardai via CoinTelegraph.com,
Cryptocurrency investors are increasingly moving capital into stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) in a bid to avoid volatility ahead of US President Donald Trump’s widely anticipated tariff announcement on April 2.
Increasingly, more capital is flowing into stablecoins and the real-world asset (RWA) tokenization sector, which refers to financial products and tangible assets such as real estate and fine art minted on the blockchain.
Stablecoins, total market cap. Source: IntoTheBlock
The flight to safety is mainly attributed to geopolitical tensions and global trade concerns, according to Juan Pellicer, senior research analyst at IntoTheBlock:
The prospect of a global trade war has heightened inflation-related concerns, causing a significant decline in both cryptocurrency and traditional equity markets.
S&P 500, BTC/USD, 1-day chart. Source: TradingView
Bitcoin has fallen 19% and the S&P 500 (SPX) index has fallen over 7% in the two months since Trump announced import tariffs on Chinese goods on Jan. 20, the day of his inauguration as president.
The April 2 announcement is expected to detail reciprocal trade tariffs targeting top US trading partners. The measures aim to reduce the country’s estimated $1.2 trillion goods trade deficit and boost domestic manufacturing.
Investor sentiment pressured by April 2 Trump tariff announcement
Global tariff fears and uncertainty around the upcoming announcement continue to pressure investor sentiment in global markets.
Meanwhile, RWAs reached a new cumulative all-time high of over $17 billion on Feb. 3, and are currently less than 0.5% away from surpassing the $20 billion milestone, according to data from RWA.xyz.
RWA global market dashboard. Source: RWA.xyz
Some industry watchers said that Bitcoin’s lack of upside momentum may drive RWAs to a $50 billion all-time high before the end of 2025, as their increased liquidity will help RWAs attract a significant share of the $450 trillion global asset market.