As demand for blockchain financial products surges among investors, tokenized stocks may be nearing a turning point, accelerating the on-chain transition of traditional assets.
According to a report by Binance Research on Wednesday, tokenized stocks are part of the growing real-world asset (RWA) tokenization sector, reaching a market value of $370 million by the end of July.
The report notes that tokenized stocks exhibit a growth pace similar to the early boom of decentralized finance (DeFi), indicating that tokenized stocks may be approaching a significant development milestone in the transition to hybrid finance.
“While still relatively small compared to the global stock market (with a market value exceeding $100 trillion), the explosive growth in July suggests that tokenized stocks may be nearing an important inflection point.”
The number of wallet addresses holding tokenized stocks surged from 1,600 in June to over 90,000 in July, showing an increase in investor demand for tokenized stocks.
Tokenized stocks absorbing 1% of the global stock market capitalization could surpass $13 trillion.
If 1% of global stocks are tokenized, their market value could exceed $13 trillion. According to Binance Research data, this would be eight times the peak of the DeFi market.
As new tokenized financial products are launched, demand for more 'complex' DeFi infrastructure will increase, with both expected to reinforce each other and push blockchain into the mainstream.
Tokenized xStocks differ significantly from traditional stocks, including 24/7 trading, free asset transfers, and commission-free trading on Kraken exchanges.
However, the ultimate goal of tokenization is not just to move traditional products onto the blockchain, but to transcend Wall Street and achieve a new level of accessibility for investors, Mark Greenberg, Global Head of Consumer Business at Kraken, told Cointelegraph.
“Tokenized stocks cannot be just the ‘blockchain version of Wall Street’; that misses the real meaning,” Greenberg said. He added that stocks must be “like the internet,” always online, self-directed, and globally accessible.