The Growth of the Tokenized Equities Market Is Off-the-Charts. Here's What Crypto Investors Need to Know.

The tokenized equities market is booming at an almost unbelievable pace, with its total market value climbing by an incredible 790% year over year as of Oct. 12, according to research by Grayscale.

But the boom won't automatically lift coins like Solana (CRYPTO: SOL), and much to investors' chagrin, the same is true for many other blockchains that are leading this emerging segment in terms of their tokenized value. In other words, getting some upside from this monster trend requires knowing a few not-so-obvious facts, so let's dive in and get you up to speed.

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Tokenized stocks are already a major point of competition in crypto

A tokenized stock is a crypto token that represents or tracks a real company's share.

As a group, tradeable tokenized stocks held $3.4 billion in value as of Oct. 20, up 13% during the prior 30 days, with 4.5 million holders in total. As of the start of this year, the entire segment was worth just $686.8 million, and at the start of 2025, only $288.2 million.

In terms of the blockchains with the largest bases of tokenized equities, technically BNB Chain, whose native coin is BNB, hosts the most, with $1.5 billion. Ethereum is the runner-up with $732.8 million and then Solana with $485.2 million.

Today, Solana's real edge is its activity, which stems from it being the cheapest and fastest major network most of the time. It handled between 95% and 97% of tokenized stock activity on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) in the second quarter of this year. In late September, Robinhood Chain, from Robinhood Markets, temporarily passed it, and it might do so again in the future.

The important thing to appreciate here is that blockchain activity doesn't necessarily translate directly into value for coin holders. To the extent that it does, it's mediated by how transaction fees are handled when tokenized assets are transferred.

Solana, for example, uses its base fees to burn coins, taking them permanently out of circulation. However, because its fees are so small, that it doesn't really do much to reduce its supply outstanding. So holders of the coin aren't getting much upside from the pressure that fees put on supply because Solana itself isn't made significantly scarcer by the small number of coins it destroys. Most other coins issued by networks that support or aim to support tokenized stocks, including popular ones like Ethereum and XRP, have the same problem.

This means that to profit from investing in tokenized stock inflows or trading, it will require enormous growth in the base of tokenized assets or for the networks to change their fee and burn rules so that more coins are destroyed.

How big could the tokenized equities market get, and who would profit?

If the forecasts below are even partly right, growth could offset some of that weak value capture.

Citigroup estimated in June 2026 that tokenized public equities could be worth about $2.6 trillion by 2030. Similarly, Morgan Stanley's Amy Oldenburg said on Oct. 12 that the tokenized real-world assets market, which includes other types of assets like bonds and real estate, could grow to $3 trillion to $10 trillion by 2030.

Regulation is likely to be the force determining the early winners in that trend. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a five-year exemption on Sept. 17 which lets qualifying U.S. venues offer tokenized stocks on blockchains without registering as exchanges. For exchanges to qualify for the exemptions, the tokens they choose to list must have the same set of rights as real shares would, which means that many of the tokenized stocks on the market right now wouldn't count.

That structure favors Coinbase Global (NASDAQ: COIN) under the new rules. The tokens on its Base blockchain are each backed by shares held by a custodian. But Base had only $8.1 million in tokenized assets as of Oct. 20, so it's lagging in terms of its onboarded capital base.

Its competitor, Robinhood, on the other hand, has a selection of 189 tokens that, as a group, are worth a total of $143.6 million, giving it a much deeper and broader footprint in tokenized stocks than Coinbase. But its tokens are actually debt securities without voting rights, so the U.S. version of the platform, which hasn't yet launched, will likely need a rebuild.

For the moment, the stocks of Robinhood and Coinbase are better ways to gain exposure to tokenization than cryptocurrencies; they capture fees that are delivered to their shareholders through revenue and earnings. Nonetheless, this trend is just in its infancy, and there's a lot of growth to come from here.

Citigroup is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Alex Carchidi has positions in Ethereum and Solana. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Ethereum, Solana, and XRP. The Motley Fool recommends BNB, Coinbase Global, and Robinhood Markets. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.