Ethereum’s RWA dominance down from 93% to 61%, but is that the real story?

The Ethereum Foundation is intentionally reducing its own influence these days.

Written by Samyukhtha L KM

Reviewed by Jibin Mathew George

Updated 02:00 EDT May 21, 2026

Ethereum’s RWA dominance down from 93% to 61%, but is that the real story?

Ethereum’s [ETH] RWA market is changing, with rivals taking a share of activity. But is it only about the competition?

The Ethereum Foundation has been reducing its direct influence over the ecosystem in the recent times, raising eyebrows. Hence, one wonders – Is the network moving beyond both market dominance and centralized leadership?

Ethereum’s RWA lead has dropped

Ethereum’s active RWA market share has fallen from 93.4% at the start of 2025 to 61.1% by the end of Q1 2026. That is a big decline, but it does not mean Ethereum is losing relevance.

Instead, the space itself is becoming more multi-chain. Networks like BNB Chain [BNB], Solana [SOL], Stellar [XML], Liquid Network [LBTC], Avalanche [AVAX], ZKsync Era, and Arbitrum [ARB] are now attracting more tokenized asset activity.

Here, it’s worth noting that Ethereum [ETH] is still the largest chain by RWA market cap, with about $18.7 billion.

Ethereum Foundation reduces central point of control

It is also interesting to consider Ethereum’s own governance structure. While its RWA market share is becoming less concentrated, the Ethereum Foundation is also trying to make the network less dependent on itself.

The idea is that Ethereum should be able to keep running, upgrading, and defending itself even if the Foundation becomes much less important over time. That is why recent departures from the EF are not automatically a red flag. They may very well be planned to reduce central influence.

Note that the EF’s March 2026 mandate read,

Our goal is to reduce the Foundation’s relative influence over time.

The real test is winning without full control

That leaves the network with a more complicated question – Can it lose market share in key sectors and still remain the most important settlement layer in crypto?

The long-term bet is perhaps different now. Ethereum may not win by controlling every market. It may win by becoming the neutral base layer that does not need a central owner at all.