RWA tokens, priced against what they claim

What an RWA token is, and what most coverage leaves out

A real-world-asset token is a blockchain claim on something that exists off-chain: an ounce of gold in a vault, a share held by a custodian, a Treasury bill. The pitch is always the same — the asset, with settlement that does not close at four o'clock and does not need a brokerage account.

What is almost never published is the part that decides whether the pitch holds: what the token costs against the thing it claims. A token that drifts from its underlying is a more expensive way to own the same exposure, and the drift is measurable. Below are the two categories where StackFi measures it, because a public price exists for both underlyings.

Tokenized metals, priced against spot

Gold tokens sit close to the metal: XAUT at −0.282%, PAXG at −0.389% on this snapshot, against a combined $4.74B of market value across the set. A tokenized ounce is quoted in dollars nearly everywhere and against the ounce almost nowhere, which is the gap the tokenized metal premium tracker exists to close.

The number to be careful with here is not the premium but the unit. A token representing a gram, read as a token representing an ounce, shows a 96% discount and looks like free money — so every row on that tracker publishes the ounces its price implies, and withholds the premium when that disagrees with the issuer's declared unit.

If the question is which gold token rather than what it costs, PAXG vs XAUT covers issuer, attestation and redemption, and holding gold on-chain covers custody once the token is yours.

Tokenized equities, priced against the share

14 of 28 tokenized US stocks we track have enough depth for their quoted price to describe a trade, across 2 issuers and $23.2M of on-chain liquidity. The median among those sits −0.210% from the underlying share.

The rest is the more interesting half. The tokens without depth are not slightly worse — their on-chain prints are the residue of old trades rather than offers, which is why they are published as "not a market price" rather than as a premium. What separates the two comes down to how each issuer sells: xStocks trade on public venues, while Ondo Global Markets quotes per request from its own inventory.

Live numbers are on the tokenized stock premium tracker, and the spot-versus-perpetual gap on the same names is on the basis tracker.

Four questions that price any RWA claim

1. What unit does one token represent, and does the price imply that unit? This is the failure that looks like an opportunity. Check it before anything else.
2. How much depth is behind the quote? A premium measured against a near-empty pool is arithmetic on a stale trade. StackFi treats $50,000 of on-chain liquidity as the floor below which a quoted price stops describing anything.
3. What does redemption actually allow, and for whom? Most RWA tokens redeem only in size, only to verified counterparties, or not at retail at all. That is not a scandal, but it is the difference between a claim on an asset and a price that tracks one.
4. What does the venue charge to get in and out? Almost always larger than the premium, and almost never in the marketing. Price the route, not just the token.

Where to go next

• Holding metal on-chain: on-chain gold, or the wrapper question one level up in physical vs ETF vs tokenized gold.
• Buying a tokenized share: what the wrapper costs, then how to buy one without overpaying.
• The token of an ETF share: GLDx — a token of a share of a trust, three wrappers deep, and the bridge between the two clusters above.
• Trading the gap: the basis trade, and when it is not one.
• Every calculator and tracker: the tools hub.
• Every ownership comparison: the comparison hub, where the same wrapper question is asked of metals, ETFs and on-chain claims side by side.

FAQ

What are RWA tokens?

Real-world-asset tokens are blockchain claims on something that exists off-chain — an ounce of gold in a vault, a share held by a custodian, a Treasury bill. The category is broad and mostly unmeasured. StackFi tracks the two parts of it where the claim can be checked against a public price for the underlying: tokenized metals and tokenized US equities, currently 3 metal tokens and 28 equity tokens.

Do RWA tokens trade at the price of the thing they represent?

Close to it, when there is a real market behind them. On the 2026-09-24 17:27 UTC snapshot the median tokenized metal sat −0.389% from spot and the median tokenized stock with genuine depth sat −0.210% from its share. The gaps that matter are not those: they are the venue spread you cross, and the pools that are too thin for a quoted price to mean anything.

What is the difference between a tokenized stock and tokenized gold?

What sits under the claim, and what that costs you. A tokenized share gives you price exposure with no vote and no cash dividend, and the issuer holds the share. Tokenized gold is a claim on metal in a vault, with no fund fee eroding the unit over time. A tokenized gold ETF share is a third thing entirely — a token of a share of a trust, three wrappers deep — which is why it is worth knowing which one you are buying.

How do I check whether an RWA token is priced fairly?

Four questions, in order. What unit does one token represent, and does the market price imply that same unit? How much depth sits behind the quote — a premium against an empty pool is arithmetic on a stale trade. What does redemption actually allow, and for whom? And what does the venue charge to get in and out, which is usually larger than any premium. StackFi publishes the first two as live numbers on the trackers linked below.