Tokenized Stocks Echo Early Stablecoin Growth, Soar To Record $1.2B Market Cap

The combined market capitalization for tokenized stocks has soared to a new record of $1.2 billion following strong growth for the sector in September and December.

That milestone was highlighted in a Dec. 29 X post by Token Terminal. In the post, the company drew parallels between the stablecoin market in 2020 to the tokenized stocks market today. 

“Tokenized stocks today are like stablecoins in 2020,” Token Terminal said. 

Stablecoins were in their infancy then, and were mainly used as tools for retail traders to protect themselves from crypto’s volatility. 

However, the stablecoin market has surged since then. Earlier this year, the market cap for these tokens soared to above $300 billion for the first time. 

Stablecoin market cap (Source: DefiLlama)

Data from DefiLlama shows that the stablecoin market cap currently stands at over $307 billion.

The stablecoin market’s momentum received a boost after US President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law in July. This is the first regulatory framework on the federal level for stablecoins, and provided the regulatory clarity needed for large traditional finance firms to enter the space. 

While Token Terminal has compared the current state of the tokenized stocks market to the stablecoin market in 2020, other market observers have likened tokenized stocks to the early decentralized finance (DeFi) boom of 2020. 

Companies Rush To Launch Tokenized Stocks

The growth seen in tokenized stocks towards the end of this year started around the same time that Backed Finance launched its xStocks product suite on the Ethereum blockchain. This saw the company debut about 60 tokenized equities via partnerships with crypto exchanges Kraken and Bybit. 

More recently, tokenization company Securitize announced plans to introduce compliant, onchain trading for several public stocks. 

Meanwhile, Ondo Finance has revealed plans to roll out tokenized US stocks and ETFs (exchange-traded funds) on the Solana blockchain in early 2026. 

Crypto exchange Coinbase has jumped on the trend as well, and said earlier this month that it plans to offer stock trading as part of its broader goal to build an “everything exchange.” 

Additionally, a strong indication of institutional interest came in November, when Nasdaq disclosed that it filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to offer tokenized stocks on its platform. 

Nasdaq’s head of digital assets strategy Matt Savarese said that tokenization is a top strategic priority for the exchange. 

“We’re not looking at upending the system; we want everyone to come along for that ride and bring tokenization more into the mainstream,” Savarese said in a November interview with CNBC. 

Market For Tokenized RWAs Has Tripled In 2025, Could Soar Further In 2026: Cantor

Tokenization has been a key theme in 2025 as institutions looked to utilize blockchain’s benefits such as 24/7 operability and low-cost cross-border transactions to upgrade legacy payment and finance rails. 

In its year-end report, Cantor Fitzgerald noted that the market for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) has tripled this year to $18.5 billion. 

The firm went on to predict that the market will continue to grow and potentially reach a capitalization of about $50 billion in 2026 as more institutions come onchain.