Tokenized stocks saw a phenomenal 220% increase in July, indicating sharply increasing interest in equities on the blockchain, according to Binance Research in a report. Market capitalization hit $370 million towards the close of the month, driven primarily by Exodus Movement (EXOD) stocks issued through Securitize. Excluding Exodus, the value of tokenized stocks rose from $16.7 million to $53.6 million within one month. This rapid increase is indicative of the first decentralized finance (DeFi) boom, where overall value locked in DeFi projects skyrocketed from $1 billion to $100 billion from 2020 to 2021. Demand for Tokenized Equities Explodes Blockchain wallet addresses holding tokenized stocks grew to over 90,000 in July from 1,600 in June. The growth indicates growing interest in real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, a sector ranked among the most promising ones for blockchain finance. Tokenized stocks, unlike traditional shares, can be traded 24/7, transferred at will, and in some cases, exchanged for free, like on Kraken. $1.3 Trillion Opportunity Ahead If merely 1% of world equities go onchain, tokenized shares may have a market capitalization of $1.3 trillion—a full eight times the size of DeFi when it reached its peak. Binance Research contends that this level of adoption would drive further development of more advanced DeFi infrastructure, generating a cycle of innovation and growth. Over 60 tokenized stocks are currently traded on the likes of Kraken, Bybit, and Solana-based Backed Finance’s xStocks, including Amazon, Tesla, and Apple. Beyond ‘Wall Street on Blockchain’ While the nascent phase of tokenization is still focused on replicating traditional assets, it is the industry leaders who claim that the ultimate goal is something more profound in nature. “Tokenized equities cannot be ‘Wall Street on a blockchain.’ That’s the wrong idea,” says Mark Greenberg, who is the global head of Kraken’s Consumer Business Unit. He imagines an ecosystem that is like the internet—always on, ubiquitously available, and user-driven. Tokenization, if it works, can reshape global financial access and rethink how investors interact with equities in the digital economy.
