Update March 26, 2:36 pm UTC: This article has been updated to include quotes from Brickken CEO Edwin Mata.

BlackRock’s Ethereum-native tokenized money market fund has more than tripled in value over the past three weeks, nearing the $2 billion mark amid rising demand for safe-haven digital assets.

BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) saw an over three-fold increase over the past three weeks, from $615 million to $1.87 billion, according to Token Terminal data shared by Leon Waidmann, head of research at Onchain Foundation, a Web3 intelligence platform.

BlackRock BUIDL capital deployed by chain. Source: Token Terminal, Leon Waidmann

“BUIDL fund TVL exploded from $615M → $1.87B in just 3 weeks. The tokenization wave is hitting faster than most realize,” the researcher wrote in a March 26 X post.

BlackRock’s BUIDL fund is part of the wider 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, increasing investor accessibility to and trading opportunities for these assets.

The surge in BlackRock’s fund reflects a growing institutional appetite for tokenized RWAs due to more regulatory clarity, according to Edwin Mata, co-founder and CEO of Brickken, a European RWA platform.

“The US is witnessing a notable shift toward a more crypto-friendly regulatory environment,” the CEO told Cointelegraph, adding:

“The SEC has recently concluded several investigations without enforcement actions, including those involving Immutable, Coinbase and Kraken. This trend suggests a move toward clearer regulatory frameworks that support innovation in the digital asset space.”

Related: Crypto markets will be pressured by trade wars until April: Analyst

BlackRock launched BUIDL in March 2024 in partnership with tokenization platform Securitize. In a recent Fortune report, Securitize chief operating officer Michael Sonnenshein said the fund aims to make offchain assets “unboring.” 

RWAs reached a new cumulative all-time high of over $17 billion on Feb. 3, following Bitcoin’s (BTC) decline below $100,000.

Related: Redemption arcs of 2024: Ripple’s victory, memecoins’ rise, RWA growth

RWAs near $20B record high amid Bitcoin’s lack of momentum

The total value of onchain RWAs is less than 0.5% away from surpassing the $20 billion mark, with a total cumulative value of $19.57 billion, according to data from RWA.xyz.

RWA global market dashboard. Source: RWA.xyz

RWAs will likely rise to new all-time highs in 2025 as they attract investor interest amid Bitcoin’s lack of momentum, according to Alexander Loktev, chief revenue officer at P2P.org, an institutional staking and crypto infrastructure provider.

“Given the recent moves we’ve seen from major financial institutions, particularly BlackRock and JPMorgan’s growing involvement in tokenization, I believe we could hit $50 billion in TVL,” Loktev told Cointelegraph.

Traditional finance (TradFi) institutions are “starting to view tokenized assets as a serious bridge to DeFi,” driven by institutions looking for digital asset investments with “predictable yields,” added Loktev.

Magazine: Ripple says SEC lawsuit ‘over,’ Trump at DAS, and more: Hodler’s Digest, March 16 – 22

World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the Trump family’s crypto project, is planning to release a stablecoin, raising concern over the US president’s exposure to the digital asset industry.

The project released a memecoin immediately prior to President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the price of which skyrocketed and crashed soon after, causing many to accuse WLFI of a pump-and-dump scheme. 

WLFI has also made multimillion-dollar purchases of crypto tokens immediately prior to important crypto-related events the president has attended or announcements influencing the industry. WLFI purchased $20 million of various tokens ahead of the March 7 White House Crypto Summit. 

As World Liberty Financial’s portfolio grows and regulator oversight disappears from the crypto industry, observers and legal scholars are becoming increasingly concerned over conflicts of interest within the Trump administration. 

Son Eric Trump pumps his father’s memecoin ahead of the inauguration. Source: Eric Trump

Trump’s stablecoin USD1 riddled with liabilities 

WLFI announced on March 25 that it will launch the new stablecoin USD1, “100% backed by short-term US government treasuries, US dollar deposits, and other cash equivalents.”

WLFI co-founder Zach Witkoff said in the announcement that the coin can be used for “seamless, secure cross-border transactions.” 

News of USD1’s forthcoming release came just days after WLFI secured more than $500 million through the sale of its own $WLFI tokens. 

Observers have already begun to raise the alarm about the possible security risks posed by a stablecoin connected to the president. There are also concerns over the possibility of market manipulation and violations of the emoluments clause of the US Constitution — a section of the document that protects against undue influence over American leaders. 

As regards the latter, cyber and digital media attorney Andrew Rossow told Cointelegraph that the stablecoin is “a direct affront to constitutional safeguards meant to prevent conflicts of interest.”

“With Trump and his family controlling 60% of World Liberty’s equity interests, the USD1 stablecoin could facilitate indirect financial gains or undue foreign influence over US policy, particularly if foreign entities invest in or use the stablecoin.”

WLFI makes up a sizeable chuck of Trump’s estimated net worth. Source: Fortune

Corey Frayer, who worked on crypto policy at the SEC under former President Joe Biden, said that the project’s emphasis on cross-border payments was particularly worrisome and that foreign entities may invest as a way to gain favor with Trump.

“There’s a lot of opacity around this marketplace, and prior relationships with illicit finance,” Frayer told The New York Times. 

US policymakers have already noted the possibility for foreign influence following the launch of Trump’s eponymous memecoin in January.

At the time, Democratic Representative Maxine Waters — a top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee — wrote that “Anyone globally, even individuals who have been sanctioned by the U.S. or banned from our capital markets, can now trade and profit off of $TRUMP through various unregulated platforms.”

Related: Congress repealed the IRS broker rule, but can it regulate DeFi?

In addition to potential foreign influence, observers are concerned that Trump’s crypto ventures could threaten market stability and integrity, and open up global markets to manipulation. 

Referencing USD1, Heath Mayo — the founder of the Trump-alternative conservative movement Principles First — said that a sitting president issuing an instrument backed by public debt should be illegal, adding that the project had “terrible incentives and corrupt use of US taxpayer credit.”

Rossow said that the president’s role in a stablecoin project while at the same time working to craft stablecoin legislation in the form of the GENIUS Act is “a constitutional violation that could destabilize regulatory integrity.”

Trump’s influence over the industry and ability to drop enforcement actions against crypto executives who support him creates “an uneven playing field, disadvantaging competitors and violating principles of equal protection under the law.”

What options do regulators have regarding Trump’s crypto conflicts of interest

Trump, who has long stated an affinity with former President Andrew Jackson, seems to be holding to the latter’s strategy of acknowledging judicial rulings — and then doing what he wants regardless. 

The presidential administration has already shown that it is willing to defy orders from federal judges when, earlier this month, it ignored a verbal order from a federal judge to turn around two planes full of alleged gang members bound for the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador. 

Regarding crypto, Senator Elizabeth Warren has already called for an ethics probe into Trump’s crypto activities. She said that the president’s memecoin “massively enriched Trump personally, enabled a mechanism for the crypto industry to funnel cash to him, and created a volatile financial asset that allows anyone in the world to financially speculate on Trump’s political fortunes.”

Warren, a long-time crypto critic, has taken aim at WLFI. Source: Senate Banking Committee

The probe, if it had a chance to begin with, doesn’t appear to have gone anywhere, and Congressional Republicans are busy working on the GENIUS Act, which even has the support of a handful of Democrats. 

What, if anything, can be done?

Rossow said that, despite changes in SEC leadership, other agencies like the Financial Crime Enforcement Network could still pursue investigations. 

He also noted that state-level action from local regulators and Attorneys General is “not just possible but imperative, especially in states with robust consumer protection laws.

He added that international regulatory bodies could exert pressure, stating that the “global nature” of crypto means that foreign governments could work for better oversight and more robust regulations. 

Related: Who’s running in Trump’s race to make US a ‘Bitcoin superpower?’

In any case, he said that the current situation demands multi-faceted action as there is currently a need to “safeguard the principles of fair governance and maintain the US’s credibility in the global financial system.”

Some in the crypto industry see no problem at all and believe the president’s involvement is just another sign of how the industry is reaching mainstream appeal. 

Chris Barrett, senior director of communications at Chainlink, congratulated the project, stating that “The global financial world runs on the U.S. dollar, and stablecoins are about to make that even harder to change.”

Arnoud Star Busman, CEO of European stablecoin issuer Quantoz Payments, told Cointelegraph that USD1 is reflective of “increasing validation from world-leading brands that stablecoins are carving the path for the mainstream financial industry to access crypto assets and tokenized real-world assets.”

The Blockchain Association — an industry lobby group — declined Cointelegraph’s request for comment. 

Magazine: Arbitrum co-founder skeptical of move to based and native rollups: Steven Goldfeder

Opinion by: Paul Delio, chief business officer at CARV

Market movements come and go, naturally taking up a lot of crypto oxygen, but something far more remarkable has been happening beneath the surface in recent cycles. The past few years have generally been great for new tokens, and with their launches come significant opportunities for wealth creation, such as airdrops.

I recently sat down with Animoca Brands co-founder and executive chairman Yat Siu at Consensus Hong Kong. He mentioned a figure that instantly cured any market anxiety: $49 billion worth of airdrops were distributed directly to Web3 communities from 2021 to 2024. “I can’t think of a larger private wealth generation event than that,” Siu noted.

He’s entirely correct. Airdrops get users in at the ground floor and reward them for early support in ways traditional markets simply can’t or don’t. We can all share in one of the most significant wealth redistributions in recent history through this unique mechanism. 

While current sentiment might make some think twice, there’s still great user and network value building in the background. Bear markets are temporary, but airdrops — and the ownership and community models they enable in crypto — are forever.

Airdrops transform ownership 

Airdrops are much more than free tokens — they’re a relationship reimagining between platforms and users. The value they bring to protocols goes beyond inherent pricing.

In the traditional tech world, users have unfortunately gotten used to creating value and receiving nothing in return. 

This is the business model of many of today’s most prominent companies: feasting on information, extracting its value and selling to the highest bidder. When users don’t own their data, tech corporations weaponize it for revenue and influence.

Airdrops challenge this status quo. The model honors participation with ownership stakes and real-world value. If you use a project, airdrops posit that you should share in it. Passive users become active stakeholders who champion the ecosystem and bring it to new heights. 

Recent: Kaito AI token defies influencer selling pressure with 50% price rally

The data and decision-making have-nots are in the driver’s seat for once. From layer 2s offering governance tokens to early users or projects rewarding backers, airdrops rewrite the ownership rulebook and create lasting protocol-user stickiness. This ownership unlocks engagement that often persists regardless of market conditions.

Airdrops create ecosystems

Community makes or breaks projects in Web3. As Siu pointed out, network effects are one of the most valuable assets in digital economies. Airdrops have become a crypto cornerstone precisely because they bootstrap these effects.

Airdrops seed those with skin in the game and fund thousands of microeconomies. Value flows between participants rather than being extracted by centralized entities, creating a flywheel of innovation that self-reinforces. Tokenholders become evangelists, developers, participants and builders — moving projects from speculation to sustainability in bull and bear markets.

Some people try to game airdrops, while others are only motivated by profit. Teams are working on both counts to weed out bad actors and give preference to genuine supporters. Nonetheless, it’s hard to see the virtuous cycles of airdrops as anything but transformative. And, like we saw with Axie Infinity in the Philippines, they successfully onboard new crypto audiences.

Airdrops deliver enduring value

Web3 wants active users who engage with protocols and actively benefit from them. If we grow, you grow. This ethos is what crypto is all about. It is also seen with node sales rewarding network decentralization and AI agents tracking data on the blockchain and paying users when used in training.

These functions unlock user and network value despite market ups and downs. Of course, there’s a financial upside, but governance rights, community belonging and genuine buy-in also exist. Then, if and when markets rebound, users are already strapped in for the ride and benefit from their loyalty.

What is the best advice in these rocky recent weeks? Forget about market movements and look at what airdrops deliver. $49 billion is nothing to sneeze at, nor are the very real and lasting connections and communities.

Opinion by: Paul Delio, chief business officer at CARV.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.