Tokenized Stocks Go Berserk: Is Blockchain About to Crash the Cocktail Party?

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The curious spectacle of tokenized stocks has entered a new phase-one that promises, or threatens, to upend the tedious decorum of global finance. Investors, jaded by the classic mechanisms and perhaps too fond of novelty, have turned with decadent enthusiasm toward blockchain-based financial contraptions. One imagines imperious gentlemen at their clubs, forsaking their usual gin for a serving of RWA tokenization, discussed with a half-interested sneer over the Times.

According to an excruciatingly earnest Binance Research missive (delivered to CryptoMoon, perhaps by footman), tokenized stocks have soared to a market capitalization of $370 million by the end of July. Stealing the show is Exodus Movement (EXOD), galloping ahead with $260 million-leaving the rest of the field to squabble over a still-impressive $53.6 million, which, dear reader, amounts to a 220% leap in a single month. Champagne bottles, one presumes, are at risk of shortage.

Evidently, this pace of growth brings to mind the salad days of DeFi-an era when everyone seemed to grow mysteriously wealthy or suspiciously destitute overnight. The report, with what one hopes is a straight face, adds:

“Though still small relative to the global equity market (valued at over US$100T), July’s explosive growth suggests tokenized equities may be nearing a major inflection point in the broader transition to hybrid finance.”

Addresses-on the blockchain, not in Mayfair-holding tokenized stocks soared to over 90,000 in July, up from a mere 1,600 the previous month. It seems everyone wants a seat at the next financial farce. 📈

Tokenized stocks may surpass $1.3 trillion by absorbing 1% of global equity market

Let us fantasize for a moment: if tokenized equities managed to swallow a paltry 1% of global equities, their market cap could soar past $1.3 trillion. This would make them eight times larger than the golden days of DeFi-an intoxicating notion, no doubt, for anyone suffering from vertigo.
At that point, expect DeFi infrastructure to become fiendishly “sophisticated,” with the two sectors egging each other on into yet more Byzantine complexity. Presumably, the only losers in this arrangement will be those who still keep their money under the mattress.

July alone saw 60 tokenized stocks swanning onto the trading floors of Kraken, Bybit, and that brash upstart Solana’s DeFi ecosystem. Backed Finance’s xStocks have focused on such safe and stolid names as Amazon, Nvidia, Apple, Tesla, and Microsoft-because if you’re going to tokenize, why not start with the stock market’s equivalent of “greatest hits”? 💿

Tokenized xStocks bring a few cheeky innovations to their otherwise familiar wrappers: 24/7 trading, unlimited transfers, and not a commission in sight (at least on Kraken-one hopes they checked the small print). At last, your frantic urge to day-trade Apple shares at three in the morning can be fulfilled. 🕒

Still, the ultimate destiny of tokenization, says Mark Greenberg of Kraken-whose business card must be the size of a family Bible-is to unlatch the gates of Wall Street and let in anyone with an internet connection and a gleam of hope (or desperation) in their eye.
He quips (or perhaps prays), “Tokenized equities can’t just be ‘Wall Street on a blockchain.’ That misses the point.” What is the point? According to Mark, equities should resemble the internet: persistent, omnipresent, and “always on.” One can only hope the errors are fewer, and the trolls less numerous.

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2025-08-06 17:39