Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has stated that initial public offerings (IPOs) will fully migrate to the blockchain in the long term. This transformation is not a question of "if," but "when," and the first confirmations of this trend are already emerging on regulated platforms.
Zhao shared this forecast in general terms, without delving into specific timelines or details. However, the model he described is not mere theory. The first on-chain offerings have already taken place, and this is changing the rules of the game for retail investors, opening up opportunities that were previously available only to a select few.
Key changes for investors in on-chain IPOs
The shift to blockchain fundamentally changes three key parameters for market participants. The first and most important is access. Tokenized offerings can be open to retail investors from day one, whereas in the classic model, shares are first distributed among institutions and privileged clients.
The second parameter is time. On tokenized platforms, trading runs around the clock, without being tied to the signals of the exchange bell. The third is trade size: shares are immediately divided into small fractions, lowering the entry threshold.
Equally important is the economics of the process. In a traditional IPO, underwriters, lawyers, and auditors take a significant fee. Automating this entire chain on the blockchain radically reduces costs, making offerings more efficient.
Money is already voting for this idea. According to my data, approximately $2.9 billion worth of tokenized shares have been issued on-chain to date, with volume adding about 14% over the last month. Grayscale analysts, meanwhile, name BNB Chain one of the leading networks for tokenized shares, which only confirms the foresight of CZ's position.
What remains unchanged
Only the technological form changes, but regulatory requirements remain the same. In January, the SEC made it clear that tokenizing shares does not remove obligations for registration and disclosure. This is a key point that many cryptocurrency enthusiasts tend to ignore.
Particular attention should be paid to the issue of property rights. Some tokenized products merely track the price of shares but do not grant the holder shareholder rights. Everything depends on the terms of the specific issuance, and it is critically important for investors to study the fine print of offering documents.
Traditional platforms are also not standing still. The New York Stock Exchange has already established a rule allowing trading of tokenized shares of major companies alongside regular securities, with next-day settlement. In the same month in Europe, an exchange licensed under the European Union's distributed ledger regime conducted the first on-chain IPO.
However, liquidity remains a weak point for now. You can trade a tokenized asset around the clock, but there are often few orders in the order book—and any large trade can sharply swing the price.
Zhao has already made bold statements more than once this year, but real examples stand behind this idea. The question now is not whether the model works, but the scale of its adoption. My analysis shows: we are witnessing not just a trend, but a fundamental shift in the architecture of capital markets that will accelerate as liquidity grows and regulators adapt.