Interest in tokenized equities has picked up pace since their wider rollout earlier this year, positioning the segment as a possible early indicator of blockchain adoption expanding beyond Bitcoin and stablecoins. Data from Token Terminal shows that the total market value of tokenized stocks has reached a new high of $1.2 billion, with notable growth concentrated in September and December.

“Tokenized stocks today are like stablecoins in 2020,” Token Terminal noted, highlighting how early-stage the market still is. At that time, stablecoins were a niche product, yet they have since grown into a sector valued at roughly $300 billion.

Market participants have also drawn parallels between tokenized equities and the early DeFi wave of 2020, pointing to benefits such as faster settlement, continuous trading hours and fractional access as factors that could encourage more global equities to move onchain.

Institutions drive expansion of tokenized stocks

The sharp rise in activity during September coincided with Backed Finance launching its xStocks suite on Ethereum, which introduced around 60 tokenized equities through integrations with cryptocurrency exchanges Kraken and Bybit. This move helped bring tokenized stocks to a broader user base and marked a key step in their mainstream exposure.

Momentum continued into December, as Securitize announced plans to enable compliant, onchain trading of public equities with direct share ownership. At the same time, Ondo Finance outlined intentions to launch tokenized US stocks and exchange-traded funds on Solana in early 2026, further broadening the ecosystem.

Traditional finance signals growing interest

Major platforms are also positioning themselves for a tokenized equity future. Coinbase recently revealed plans to add stock trading as part of its strategy to evolve into an “everything exchange,” blending traditional and digital asset markets.

One of the clearest signals of institutional commitment came from Nasdaq, which disclosed that it had filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to support tokenized stocks on its platform. Nasdaq’s head of digital assets strategy, Matt Savarese, described tokenization as a top strategic priority, reinforcing the view that onchain equities are moving from experimentation toward wider adoption.

Sources:

https://financefeeds.com/tokenized-stocks-hit-1-2b-as-blockchain-adoption-moves-beyond-bitcoin/

https://www.rootdata.com/news/485408