When Stocks Go On-Chain: Why Tokenized Securities Could Power the Next $3 Trillion in Digital Assets

This post originally appeared on LinkedIn.

The race to tokenize securities, both public and private, is heating up. From Robinhood’s launch of tokenized shares in Europe to Kraken’s 24/7 blockchain-based stock trading, the experiments are no longer confined to crypto-native platforms. Regulated institutions, asset managers, and broker-dealers are starting to build real rails for blockchain-based equity markets.

And this shift could unlock something even bigger: agentic investing. This is where market making, trading, clearing, and brokerage move from human to AI agents, operating in real-time on global, permissionless markets.

What Are Tokenized Stocks?

In simple terms, they’re digital representations of equity securities issued on a blockchain, but backed by the same underlying assets you’d hold through a brokerage account or SPV. They promise:

• 24/7 trading (or close to it)
• Fractional ownership at lower entry points
• Global access to markets often closed to retail investors in emerging economies
• Programmable, instantaneous settlement that can interact with DeFi protocols

The models vary. Some (like Gemini’s via Dinari) are asset-backed and offer the same economic rights as the underlying stock. Others (like Robinhood EU’s) are derivatives or SPV-linked contracts, tracking value but not conferring shareholder rights.

Why Agentic Investing Makes This More Explosive

Today, most portfolio decisions are made by humans or algorithmic models. But the infrastructure for tokenized equities could enable autonomous AI agents to trade continuously, without market-hour constraints, across jurisdictions. Imagine:

• An AI assistant that auto-adjusts your portfolio every minute based on macro signals
• AI-driven hedging strategies running 24/7
• Dynamic tax-loss harvesting as events unfold, not at year-end

For this to work at scale, the assets themselves need to be natively digital, instantly settleable, and globally interoperable. Exactly what tokenized stocks promise.

The Players to Watch

• Robinhood (Europe): Public & private tokenized equities; extended-hours trading (~24/5)
• Coinbase: Seeking SEC approval to offer tokenized stocks in the U.S.
• Kraken / Backed: 50+ tokenized stocks & ETFs with true 24/7 markets via xStocks
• Republic: Tokens tied to private company shares; tradeable post-hold period
• Securitize: $4B+ in on-chain assets across equity, funds, and real estate
• Gemini / Dinari: Fractional, asset-backed U.S. equities on-chain
• Jarsy: $10 minimum investments in tokenized pre-IPO equity (e.g., SpaceX, Anthropic, Stripe)

The Scale of the Opportunity

Global equity markets are worth more than $110 trillion. Even a modest fraction of that migrating on-chain would be transformational for crypto market size and liquidity. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong articulated it clearly on a recent earnings call:

“The total addressable market for this is massive. Capturing just 3% of equities trading would double the current crypto market.”

Tokenized stocks won’t just create new trading venues, they could expand the entire addressable market for blockchain-based finance. For context, all crypto assets combined today total roughly $3 trillion in market cap. The math is compelling.

The Risks & Regulatory Wildcards

The recent controversy over tokenized access to pre-IPO OpenAI shares, offered without the company’s involvement, shows just how murky the rules still are. SEC scrutiny is growing, and in the U.S., tokenized equities are still constrained by existing securities laws.

Global regulators will decide whether this becomes a tightly gated institutional tool or an open, retail-accessible revolution.

Where This Could Go

If the infrastructure matures and compliance frameworks solidify, tokenized stocks could become the base layer for AI-native capital markets. Markets where human traders, robo-advisors, and AI agents operate side-by-side, 24/7, on the same rails.

The opportunity is huge:

• For incumbents: Unlock new global investor bases and streamline settlement
• For startups: Build compliance, liquidity, and interoperability layers
• For investors: Access assets and strategies once reserved for the few

We’re still early, but the contours are visible. This is the moment to build.

TL;DR

Tokenized stocks aren’t just a new way to wrap equities. They could be the foundation for 24/7, AI-powered capital markets. The winners will be the ones who solve the compliance, liquidity, and interoperability puzzles first.

If you’re building here or exploring how AI agents could operate in these markets, I’d love to connect.

Until next time. Thanks for reading! Dan