The next is a visitor publish and opinion from Jamie Elkaleh, CMO at Bitget
In Hong Kong, hours earlier than the New York open, an investor buys a $1 slice of Tesla straight from a self-custody pockets. No dealer, no FX spreads, no buying and selling window. Because of tokenized U.S. shares and ETFs provided by Ondo World Markets and built-in into wallets like Bitget, Wall Avenue is quietly turning into a 24/7, on-chain market.
Inside just a few years, wallets—not brokers—would be the default portal to U.S. equities for non-U.S. traders.
From Artificial Failures to Actual Backing
Tokenizing real-world belongings (RWAs)—securities, funds, and bonds represented digitally on a blockchain—has been mentioned for over a decade. Early makes an attempt included artificial fashions the place tokens tracked inventory costs by way of oracles however conferred no possession rights (like Synthetix and Mirror), CFDs (contracts for distinction) the place brokers issued publicity contracts, and absolutely backed tokenized securities that represented claims on actual shares held with a regulated custodian below bankruptcy-remote buildings (that means belongings stay secure even when the issuer goes bankrupt).
However absolutely backed securities are the place progress is accelerating. Galaxy Digital grew to become the primary U.S.-listed firm to tokenize its personal frequent inventory in August 2025, utilizing Superstate and Solana. Nasdaq has since filed a proposal with the SEC to allow buying and selling of tokenized securities on its predominant market by 2026. Kraken launched “xStocks,” providing tokenized Apple, Tesla, Nvidia, and 50+ others backed one-to-one by shares held with Backed Finance. Robinhood entered Europe with 200+ tokenized U.S. shares and ETFs—although its tokens are contracts, not shares, elevating issuer issues.
The Stablecoin Precedent
Stablecoins confirmed how shortly conventional belongings might migrate on-chain. By exporting the U.S. greenback to blockchains, stablecoins grew right into a $160 billion+ market and have become the reserve forex of crypto, powering remittances, funds, and DeFi lending.
The parallels to equities are clear. Simply as stablecoins prolonged greenback liquidity worldwide, tokenized equities might lengthen Wall Avenue’s attain. As an alternative of solely holding {dollars} in wallets, customers could quickly maintain fractional shares of Apple, Tesla, or the Nasdaq index—belongings priced in {dollars} however tradable 24/7, outdoors U.S. buying and selling hours.
RWA markets already replicate this pattern, with tokenized Treasuries and money equivalents topping $7.4 billion, and general RWA provide on-chain surpassing $25 billion in 2025, up from simply $100 million 5 years in the past.
Wallets as Monetary Gateways
For many years, entry to U.S. markets required intermediaries like brokers, financial institution accounts, and jurisdictional approval. At the moment, the entry level is a crypto pockets.
Wallets are evolving into monetary gateways, combining funds, financial savings, and investments. A employee in Lagos or Manila can obtain a stablecoin remittance, pay payments, and allocate leftover funds into tokenized S&P 500 shares—all inside the identical app.
Bitget Pockets’s integration with Ondo Finance is one instance. Customers can entry 100+ tokenized U.S. shares and ETFs, settled on-chain. The UX mirrors cell cash’s leapfrogging of conventional banking in Africa and Asia. Wallets might now leapfrog brokers, bringing low-barrier entry to capital markets.
Liquidity, Regulation, and the Roadblocks Remaining
Liquidity has lengthy been the breaking level for tokenized belongings. Early experiments failed much less from lack of curiosity than from shallow buying and selling depth. New fashions search to unravel this by linking on-chain tokens on to conventional market liquidity. Whether or not that scales stays unsure.
Regulation is equally unresolved. Entry right this moment is usually restricted to non-U.S. customers and infrequently requires KYC or eligibility checks. Buyers ought to affirm how dividends, splits, and voting rights are dealt with, and which custodian safeguards the underlying shares.
Tokenized belongings nonetheless face structural frictions like custodial centralization, whitelisting necessities, valuation opacity, and restricted decentralized venues. Tokenized shares complete only a $420 million market cap right this moment—a fraction of the broader $28 billion RWA market, reflecting how early the sector stays.
Three Takeaways
The transformation boils down to 3 key shifts.
Tokenized equities are creating always-on entry to Wall Avenue, extending conventional markets right into a 24/7 buying and selling setting.
We’re witnessing the rise of wallet-first investing, the place wallets are evolving into the default gateway that seamlessly combines funds, financial savings, and fairness investments in a single interface.
Compliance will decide scale—the pace of adoption in the end is determined by how shortly regulators make clear eligibility necessities, custodianship requirements, and voting rights for tokenized securities.
The Subsequent Layer of Finance
Finance is shifting towards a quicker, borderless mannequin. Stablecoins proved it with {dollars}; tokenized securities are actually testing it with shares.
The endgame could also be easy: a paycheck arrives as stablecoins, a portion auto-swaps right into a tokenized S&P 500 index, and the whole lot sits in a pockets—{dollars}, equities, and crypto—coexisting in the identical digital setting.
Wall Avenue gained’t disappear, however its clock is being reset. The opening bell is giving option to a 24/7 on-chain financial system.