Tokenized stocks: a new infrastructure for global markets and why 2026 became a turning point
Just a few years ago, tokenized stocks were perceived as a niche experiment at the intersection of cryptocurrencies and traditional finance (TradFi). Today, they are already a full-fledged class of financial infrastructure that is erasing the barriers between stock markets and digital assets. For millions of cryptocurrency exchange users, investing in shares of the world's largest companies is becoming as accessible as buying Bitcoin or Ethereum. And this is only the beginning of a large-scale transformation.
From experiment to a full-fledged market
2026 became a turning point for tokenized assets. According to my analysis of DeFiLlama data, the market capitalization of tokenized stocks has grown by more than 140% since the beginning of the year — from $814 million to nearly $2 billion. This is one of the highest growth rates among all segments of digital assets. However, the numbers are only part of the picture. Much more important is the change in the structure of demand.
If previously users came to cryptocurrencies for high returns, today more and more investors are combining traditional and digital assets in a single portfolio. Many no longer want to choose between Bitcoin and shares of Nvidia or Apple: they want access to all these assets through a single platform. That is why at Bitget we are developing the concept of a Universal Exchange (UEX), where cryptocurrencies, stocks, commodities, and other financial instruments are available from a single account.
What determines a platform's success
When a market is just emerging, users look primarily at the number of available assets. When it matures, the quality of trading comes to the forefront. In traditional stock markets, investors have long evaluated exchanges based on liquidity, order book depth, and the cost of trade execution. The tokenized assets segment is following the same path.
According to DeFiLlama data, the median bid-ask spread on Bitget was 0.83 basis points, or less than one-hundredth of a percent. This is the lowest figure among the largest platforms trading tokenized stocks. The platform also showed the greatest order book depth at best prices among the studied venues. Such metrics may look technical, but they determine a trader's real costs: a low spread means smaller losses when entering and exiting a position, while high liquidity allows large trades to be executed with minimal impact on price.
Why liquidity becomes the new currency of trust
The main problem of the first generations of tokenized assets was a lack of liquidity. Platforms offered dozens and even hundreds of such stocks, but real trading volumes remained low. As a result, users faced wide spreads and slippage. The situation is changing. At Bitget, we are observing steady growth in activity: from June 2 to July 19 alone, the trading volume of rTokens (RWA tokens of the Reality platform) exceeded $1.16 billion.
Investor interest remains highest in technology companies, semiconductor manufacturers, artificial intelligence developers, and ETFs focused on innovative industries. This reflects a global trend: tokenized stocks are increasingly used to gain access to fast-growing sectors of the economy without an account at a foreign broker.
The next stage is transparency
High liquidity must be backed by trust. Therefore, one of the main directions of market development is the transparency of collateral backing tokenized assets. Reality has expanded its cooperation with The Network Firm and has moved to daily publication of independent Proof-of-Reserves reports for 500 tokenized stocks and ETFs. An investor can check daily that every issued rToken is fully backed by the underlying security. It is precisely such standards that will become the norm for the entire industry.
What will change in the next three years
I am convinced that we are at the beginning of this market's development. In the next three years, it will undergo several fundamental changes:
1. There will be significantly more tokenized assets. So far, the market is concentrated around the largest American companies. In the coming years, investors will gain access to thousands of assets: shares of European and Asian companies, government bonds, corporate debt, funds, indices, and commodities.
2. Liquidity will become the main competitive advantage. Platforms compete on the number of listings. In a few years, the main selection criteria will be market depth, order execution speed, and trading costs. Users will go where they can execute trades of virtually any size.
3. The boundaries between TradFi and cryptocurrencies will disappear. We will stop talking about two different financial worlds. An investor will open one account and buy Bitcoin, Nvidia shares, an S&P 500 ETF, gold, and bonds from it. The difference between a crypto exchange and a traditional broker will be erased.
The future is being built today
Tokenization is not just a digital wrapper for traditional assets. It changes the very way investors interact with global financial markets. When stocks trade around the clock and are open to anyone with a digital wallet, the market becomes more open and efficient.
My view: the next three years will be a period when tokenized stocks finally transition from the category of innovation to a mass financial instrument. That is why today it is so important to invest not only in expanding the range of assets but also in liquidity, transparency, and the quality of trade execution. It is these factors that will determine the leaders of the new generation of global financial markets.