a16z crypto report: Market value of tokenized stocks reaches $1.7 billion, up over 5 times year-on-year
As of the end of June, the total market value of tokenized stocks is approximately $1.7 billion, an increase of over 5 times from $329 million a year ago, making it one of the fastest-growing categories of tokenized assets.
More than half of the market value comes from assets that were not on-chain a year ago, with AI and chip stocks' share rising from 0.3% to 15.5%, while the share of crypto-related products fell from 79% to 21%.
In terms of market mechanisms, institutions and crypto investors have become the main buyers, with funds shifting from traditional stock brokerage to on-chain tokenized products and DeFi collateral. Infrastructure providers such as DTCC, Robinhood, and Coinbase benefit, while traditional exchanges and clearing systems face short-term pressure, accelerating the migration of stock ownership from centralized to programmable on-chain forms.
Source: Public information
ABAB AI Insight
a16z crypto has continuously invested in and promoted tokenized assets, witnessing the evolution of the RWA sector from early experiments to institutional entry, driving the construction of multiple on-chain infrastructures.
In terms of capital pathways, large institutions are bringing traditional stocks on-chain through platforms like Canton Network and Robinhood's proprietary chain, motivated by the desire to enhance liquidity and 24/7 trading efficiency, shifting resources from offline clearing to on-chain settlement and DeFi combinations, achieving dual benefits for assets and protocols.
Drawing a parallel to the historical path of ETFs from niche to mainstream, tokenized stocks are currently in a transitional control phase, expanding from crypto-native assets to traditional large stocks and indices.
Essentially, this is a reconstruction of the industrial chain: blockchain is reshaping the issuance, trading, and settlement of stocks into programmable forms on-chain, with mechanisms that lower entry barriers through institutional infrastructure, while new issuances drive market value growth, concentrating capital from traditional market infrastructures to hybrid on-chain systems, accelerating the efficiency of global capital markets.
ABAB News · Law of Cognition
- New issuances drive growth; the rise in existing prices is merely superficial.
- Infrastructure leads the way; asset tokenization accelerates naturally, with institutional entry reshaping market structure.
- Tokenization is not about replicating stocks but about providing liquidity and programmability, where the winners take all in the new financial pipeline.