Standard Chartered has shared a fresh take on the next stage of the crypto market's development. In a recent study, the bank's analysts concluded that the biggest opportunities in digital assets will come not from individual coins, but from DeFi infrastructure, through which a growing volume of tokenized assets will pass.
The bank sees Uniswap — the largest DEX, where users swap tokens directly through smart contracts without intermediaries or a single operator — as one of the main beneficiaries of this trend.
DeFi Steps Into the Spotlight
Geoffrey Kendrick, Head of Digital Assets Research at Standard Chartered, called DeFi the next source of capital creation in the industry. By his estimate, the tokenized asset market will grow from today's $340 B to $4 T by the end of 2028.
What matters most, though, isn't how much these assets grow, but where they'll be deployed. While only a small portion of this capital is currently active in DeFi, by the end of the decade that figure could climb to 30%.
The bank expects that, along with the broader crypto market's growth, this will expand the decentralized finance sector to $2.7 T.
Why the Bank Singled Out Uniswap
Standard Chartered believes one of the main beneficiaries of this process will be Uniswap — the largest decentralized exchange, where users trade assets directly through liquidity pools.
According to the analysts, the inflow of tokenized assets will boost the funds held within the protocol and increase trading activity. The bank also points to changes in UNI's economics — including the protocol fee mechanism and token burning — as additional support for the ecosystem.
Kendrick also suggests that, as the tokenized asset market matures, DeFi platforms will start competing more aggressively with centralized crypto exchanges for users and trading volume.