RWA are becoming a core piece of DeFi.
Tokenized T-Bills, tokenized gold, private credit.

But many people analyze them only by looking at the token.

That’s a mistake.

When I analyze an RWA, I don’t start on-chain.

I start by asking one simple question:
What can go wrong outside the blockchain?

Most risks in RWA are not technical.
They are legal, operational, and human.

My framework is based on six layers:

1. Issuer risk
Who is issuing the token?
Incentives, balance sheet strength, audits, and reputation matter.

2. Custody risk
Where are the real assets held?
Custodian quality, asset segregation, insurance, and audit frequency.

3. Legal & regulatory risk
Jurisdiction, legal structure, investor protections, and KYC constraints.

4. Redemption & liquidity
Can I exit?
How fast, at what cost, and under which conditions?

5. Smart contract & permission risk
Admins, multisigs, upgradeability, oracle dependencies.

6. Systemic risk
What happens under stress?
Rates moves, liquidity crunches, or market-wide shocks.

When an RWA is used inside a protocol like Aave,
the main question is not APY.

The real question is:
Will this collateral behave as expected under stress?

I focus on three key areas:

1. Liquidation behavior
RWA are not crypto-native.
They don’t trade 24/7 and they don’t react instantly.

• How are liquidations handled?

• Is there a backstop?

• What happens if redemptions are paused?

2. Oracle risk
Prices often rely on:

• NAV reports

• off-chain data

• delayed feeds

If the oracle lags, liquidations lag.
That’s dangerous in leveraged systems.

3. Governance & emergency powers
Who can pause markets, change parameters, or intervene?

Emergency controls reduce risk —
but they also introduce trust assumptions.

RWA reduce volatility, but increase trust.

That trade-off must be understood, measured, and priced correctly.

Because of that, I don’t ask:
“Is this RWA safe?”

I ask:
“Is this risk priced correctly for the trust I’m taking?”

Sometimes the answer is yes.
Sometimes it’s not — even if the yield looks attractive.

I’m focused on analyzing the intersection between TradFi risk and DeFi systems,
with a specific interest in RWA, on-chain credit, and protocol risk management.

I share my learning process and frameworks publicly as I deepen my analysis.

RWA are becoming a core piece of DeFi.
Tokenized T-Bills, tokenized gold, private credit.

But many people analyze them only by looking at the token.

That’s a mistake.

When I analyze an RWA, I don’t start on-chain.

I start by asking one simple question:
What can go wrong outside the blockchain?

Most risks in RWA are not technical.
They are legal, operational, and human.

My framework is based on six layers:

1. Issuer risk
Who is issuing the token?
Incentives, balance sheet strength, audits, and reputation matter.

2. Custody risk
Where are the real assets held?
Custodian quality, asset segregation, insurance, and audit frequency.

3. Legal & regulatory risk
Jurisdiction, legal structure, investor protections, and KYC constraints.

4. Redemption & liquidity
Can I exit?
How fast, at what cost, and under which conditions?

5. Smart contract & permission risk
Admins, multisigs, upgradeability, oracle dependencies.

6. Systemic risk
What happens under stress?
Rates moves, liquidity crunches, or market-wide shocks.

When an RWA is used inside a protocol like Aave,
the main question is not APY.

The real question is:
Will this collateral behave as expected under stress?

I focus on three key areas:

1. Liquidation behavior
RWA are not crypto-native.
They don’t trade 24/7 and they don’t react instantly.

• How are liquidations handled?

• Is there a backstop?

• What happens if redemptions are paused?

2. Oracle risk
Prices often rely on:

• NAV reports

• off-chain data

• delayed feeds

If the oracle lags, liquidations lag.
That’s dangerous in leveraged systems.

3. Governance & emergency powers
Who can pause markets, change parameters, or intervene?

Emergency controls reduce risk —
but they also introduce trust assumptions.

RWA reduce volatility, but increase trust.

That trade-off must be understood, measured, and priced correctly.

Because of that, I don’t ask:
“Is this RWA safe?”

I ask:
“Is this risk priced correctly for the trust I’m taking?”

Sometimes the answer is yes.
Sometimes it’s not — even if the yield looks attractive.

I’m focused on analyzing the intersection between TradFi risk and DeFi systems,
with a specific interest in RWA, on-chain credit, and protocol risk management.

I share my learning process and frameworks publicly as I deepen my analysis.