The tokenization era has arrived—when will the market reprice crypto assets?
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The tokenization era has arrived—when will the market reprice crypto assets?
The most direct way to invest in the rise of tokenization is to buy leading public blockchains and infrastructure projects.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthors: Matt Hougan, Ryan Rasmussen, Bitwise
Translation: AididiaoJP, Foresight News
Something is shifting in the crypto industry.
Tokenization has arrived—when will the markets reprice?
Tokenization—the technology of moving stocks, bonds, and other real-world assets onto blockchains instead of traditional networks—is now reaching a pivotal moment.
In just the past month, the following events have occurred:
Robinhood and Kraken launched tokenized stock trading. Robinhood chose to build on Arbitrum, an Ethereum Layer 2 network, while Kraken’s xStocks system is based on Solana. Although both systems are currently limited to non-U.S. investors, Coinbase has filed with the SEC to offer tokenized stock trading in the U.S., calling it a key strategic initiative.
Financial institutions invested $135 million into the "Canton Network," a new Layer 1 blockchain designed for stock and bond trading. The round was led by market-making giant DRW Capital and bond trading platform Tradeweb Markets, with participation from Citadel, DTCC, and Goldman Sachs.
SEC Chair Paul Atkins called tokenization an important "innovation" and added that the SEC "should focus on how to advance tokenization in markets," declaring that the era of regulating via enforcement actions "is over."
And that's not all.
One of Latin America’s largest crypto exchanges announced plans to tokenize $200 million in real-world assets on the XRP Ledger; Galaxy Digital suggested tokenized stocks could threaten NYSE revenues; and the total value of real-world assets tokenized on-chain hit a record high.
Clearly, something is changing. But when will this affect the prices of Ethereum, Solana, XRP, Chainlink, and related assets?
The Promise of Tokenization
I’ve always had two views on tokenization.
On one hand, it seems inevitable. It’s unreasonable that stocks only trade from 9:30 to 16:00 on weekdays. Imagine if your email shut down every Friday at 4 PM and didn’t come back until 9:30 AM the next Monday.
Not to mention how slow settlement is. Remember the headlines last year when stock settlements moved from T+2 to T+1?
In what other industry would we celebrate achieving operational speeds from 1934?
While it feels inevitable, I’ve often thought we shouldn’t rush. Market structure changes slowly—ask anyone who watched floor-based stock trading take years to transition to electronic trading.
But given recent developments, I’m starting to believe the narrative around tokenized stocks may impact asset prices sooner than expected.
Why This Could Start Impacting Prices Now
The market for tokenized stocks is massive.
Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock (arguably the most influential figure in asset management), wrote in his letter to shareholders this year: "Every stock, every bond, every fund, and even every asset can be tokenized."
Let’s break that down.
The global stock market is worth $117 trillion. The bond market is valued at $140 trillion. That means the battle for tokenization spans a $257 trillion market—and that doesn't even include more niche assets.
Recently, there's been excitement around the stablecoin market, with many—including U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent—predicting stablecoins could grow from about $250 billion today to $2 trillion by 2030.
$2 trillion is a huge number, and investing in stablecoin growth offers real opportunity. But compared to tokenization, $2 trillion is a drop in the bucket—less than 1% of Larry Fink’s vision for the tokenized market.
I still believe it may take over a decade before most stock and bond trading moves on-chain. But with major financial players like Robinhood and Tradeweb already positioning themselves for this shift, I can’t help but wonder: Could tokenization achieve 1–5% penetration within a few years? Could a dozen major pilot projects push us to that level of market adoption? It seems plausible—and that would mean trillions of dollars in scale, surpassing any other crypto application or asset, including Bitcoin.
The narrative around tokenization will only accelerate. If Robinhood is launching tokenized trading, you can bet companies like Charles Schwab are actively exploring it too. I expect a wave of new announcements this fall.
How to Invest in the Rise of Tokenization
The most direct way to invest in the rise of tokenization is to buy a basket of top-tier Layer 1 blockchains and infrastructure projects: Ethereum, Solana, XRP, Chainlink, and others.
Some might argue for a concentrated bet—especially since Ethereum is currently leading in tokenization and stands a good chance of gaining market share. But to me, that seems too narrow. Look at the announcements above: many different players are capturing value. It would be a shame to get the tokenization trend right but back the wrong horse.
You can also complement core blockchain assets with a set of equities likely to benefit from tokenization, including Robinhood, Coinbase, Circle, and others.
If Larry Fink is right, the tokenization market could grow more than 4,000x in the coming years. The opportunity is here—and it won’t wait.
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