Wall Street Tokenization Explained: Will Blockchain Replace Today's Stock Trading Stack?

Tokenized equities could replace much of Wall Street’s trading plumbing, two executives told CNBC’s ETF Edge. One expects fast adoption, while the other says it will take time.

Nick Cherney leads innovation at asset manager Janus Henderson, while Gabor Gurbacs is founder and CEO of tokenization platform Openassets. Both weighed the SEC’s approval of tokenized stock trading.

What the SEC Allowed for Tokenized Equities

An SEC order issued Sept. 17 lets blockchain-based venues trade tokenized versions of listed US stocks without registering as exchanges. Each token must carry the same rights as the traditional share it represents.

The order limits trading to approved participants, with caps on symbols and volume. The relief expires after five years.

Issuers also get a chance to object before venues list tokens that outside firms create. Cherney noted its limited scope and heavy focus on trading infrastructure.

Investors May See Little Change at First

Gurbacs said buying a stock today passes through about nine intermediaries. He expects tokenization to remove six or seven of them. He said new transfer agent rules, which govern who records share ownership, make that shift possible.

For investors, though, the experience should stay similar, Gurbacs said, while settlement and costs change underneath. Cherney agreed the existing brokerage model can move to a blockchain with little visible difference.

Cherney, meanwhile, argued that cost savings alone will not drive adoption, because US markets are already efficient. Instead, he floated new uses, such as paying rent with an S&P 500 fund.

Still, Cherney was direct about the destination.

“we see it as an inevitability”

Nick Cherney, Head of Innovation at Janus Henderson, told CNBC.

Scale Shows How Early the Shift Still Is

However, Janus Henderson’s most successful tokenized fund, sold offshore to institutions, has ranged between $500 million and $1 billion. The firm’s flagship ETF manages about $30 billion, Cherney said.

By comparison, Gurbacs said global ETFs total about $24 trillion, while tokenized assets, stablecoins included, stay below $500 billion.

So the answer to the headline question looks like yes, but in stages. The five-year exemption could show whether US investors follow the roughly 200 institutions already using Janus Henderson’s tokenized funds.