Standard Chartered Keeps $2 Trillion RWA Market Forecast for 2028 Despite KelpDAO Hack

Standard Chartered has maintained its forecast that the global real-world asset, or RWA, market will grow to $2 trillion by 2028.

The Block reported on April 29 that Geoffrey Kendrick, the bank’s global head of digital assets research, wrote in a report that the global RWA market will reach $2 trillion by the end of 2028. The bank is therefore keeping its previous forecast unchanged.

The report drew attention because Standard Chartered stood by that outlook despite the recent KelpDAO hack. According to the bank, the April 18 hack led to $17 billion of deposit outflows from DeFi protocol Aave, equal to about 38% of total deposits. Active loans also fell by $5.5 billion, down 31% from earlier levels.

Still, Standard Chartered said the incident could accelerate structural improvements in the DeFi industry. After the hack, an alliance established by Aave decided to commit more than $300 million to help restore the DeFi ecosystem. The group includes Arbitrum, Consensys and Mantle.

Kendrick wrote that the KelpDAO hack validated, rather than undermined, the bank’s existing RWA market outlook. He also said Aave V4, launched in late March, and the planned Ethereum Economic Zone, or EEZ, could reduce reliance on bridges, which were the main attack route in the hack.