Crypto news

Until recently, tokenized stocks were considered a niche experiment at the intersection of cryptocurrencies and traditional finance. Today, they are already a full-fledged class of financial infrastructure that blurs the boundaries between stock markets and digital assets. For millions of crypto exchange users, investing in shares of global giants is becoming as simple 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 this segment. 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 categories of digital assets. However, the numbers are only part of the picture. Much more important is the change in demand structure.

Previously, investors came to cryptocurrencies for ultra-high returns, but now more and more users are combining traditional and digital assets in a single portfolio. They do not want to choose between Bitcoin and shares of Nvidia or Apple—they need access to all these instruments through one unified platform. That is why I am developing the concept of a universal exchange (UEX), where cryptocurrencies, stocks, commodities, and other assets are available from a single account.

What determines a platform's success

At the dawn of a market, users look at the number of available assets. When the market matures, trading quality comes to the forefront. On traditional exchanges, investors have long evaluated venues based on liquidity, order book depth, and execution costs. The tokenized asset segment is following the same path.

According to DeFiLlama data, the median bid-ask spread on Bitget was 0.83 basis points—less than one hundredth of a percent. This is the lowest figure among the largest platforms trading tokenized stocks. Additionally, the platform showed the greatest order book depth at best prices. These metrics may seem technical, but they determine a trader's real costs: a low spread reduces losses when entering and exiting, while high liquidity allows large trades to be executed without significantly impacting the price.

Liquidity as the new currency of trust

The main problem of the first generations of tokenized assets was a lack of liquidity. Platforms offered dozens of such stocks, but volumes remained minuscule, leading to wide spreads and slippage. The situation is changing. On Bitget, there is 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.

The greatest interest remains in technology companies, semiconductor manufacturers, AI developers, and ETFs on innovative sectors. This reflects a global trend: tokenized stocks are used to gain access to fast-growing sectors without the need to open an account with a foreign broker.

Transparency—the next stage

High liquidity must be backed by trust. Therefore, the key development direction is collateral transparency. Reality has expanded its cooperation with The Network Firm and moved to daily publication of independent Proof-of-Reserves reports for 500 tokenized stocks and ETFs. An investor can check daily that each issued rToken is fully backed by the underlying security. Such standards will become the norm for the entire industry.

What will change in the next three years

1. There will be significantly more tokenized assets. Currently, 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 for the number of listings, but in a few years, the main selection criteria will be market depth, 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 markets. When stocks trade around the clock and are accessible to anyone with a digital wallet, the market becomes more open and efficient. The next three years will likely be the period when tokenized stocks finally transition from the category of innovation to a mass financial instrument.

That is why it is so important today to invest not only in expanding the asset lineup but also in liquidity, transparency, and trade execution quality. These are the factors that will determine the leaders of the new generation of global financial markets.

My conclusion: the tokenized stock market is entering a phase of maturity, and those platforms that are already investing in infrastructure and trust will gain a disproportionately large advantage in the coming years.