Avalanche recorded growing institutional participation in tokenized money market funds, lending products and indices during the fourth quarter, pushing the value of real-world assets on the layer-1 network to a new record, even as its native token lagged the broader market.

According to a report published Thursday by Messari research analyst Youssef Haidar, the total value locked in tokenized real-world assets on Avalanche climbed 68.6% in the fourth quarter of 2025 and nearly 950% over the full year, surpassing $1.3 billion. A major contributor was BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), a $500 million product that launched on Avalanche in November.

Haidar also pointed to a November partnership between Fortune 500 fintech firm FIS and Avalanche-based marketplace Intain, which introduced tokenized loan products to the network. Through Intain, roughly 2,000 US banks are able to securitize more than $6 billion in loans on Avalanche.

Additional momentum came from a collaboration between S&P Dow Jones Indices and Dinari, which runs on Avalanche, to launch the S&P Digital Markets 50 Index. The index tracks 35 crypto-related equities and 15 digital tokens directly on the Avalanche blockchain.

Growing openness from regulators, including a more constructive stance by the US Securities and Exchange Commission toward cryptocurrency-linked products over the past year, has helped bolster confidence among traditional financial institutions exploring tokenization.

AVAX price continues to lag broader market

Despite progress in on-chain adoption, Avalanche’s native token has struggled. AVAX declined roughly 59% during the fourth quarter, falling to around $12.3, and has slid a further 10.5% so far in 2026, trading near $11.

Unlike Bitcoin and Ether, which have both set new all-time highs during the current market cycle, AVAX has failed to regain momentum. CoinGecko data shows the token remains more than 92% below its November 2021 peak of $144.96.

DeFi activity improves as stablecoin mix shifts

While the token price underperformed, on-chain activity within Avalanche’s native decentralized finance ecosystem strengthened. The value locked in Avalanche-based DeFi rose 34.5% over the fourth quarter to 97.5 million AVAX, while average daily transactions increased 63% to approximately 2.1 million over the same period, according to Haidar.

The total market capitalization of stablecoins on the Avalanche main chain remained broadly unchanged in the fourth quarter, edging up just 0.1% to $1.741 billion, an increase of about $1 million.

Within that stablecoin landscape, Tether’s USDt overtook Circle’s USDC to become the leading stablecoin on Avalanche. By the end of 2025, USDt accounted for 42.3% of the network’s stablecoin supply, with roughly $736.6 million in circulation.

Sources:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/blackrock-buidl-helps-avalanche-tokenization-value-q4

https://messari.io/report/state-of-avalanche-q4-2025

https://www.coingecko.com/