CoinDesk
Jefferies told clients this week that a wave of crypto and blockchain-related public listings over the next two years could grow the sector into a $1 trillion public market within five years, framing the shift as institutional capital rotating from bitcoin price speculation into the rails underneath it. The call came in a report following the bank's first Digital Assets Investor Conference in New York, which gathered executives from 35 digital asset companies alongside roughly 150 institutional investors.
Tokenization and stablecoins dominated the agenda. Panelists pointed to tokenized money market funds, private credit products, and blockchain-based settlement systems already moving into production, with stablecoins and tokenized payments repeatedly cited as the clearest near-term growth lanes. Joseph Lubin, CEO of Consensys, said at Consensus Miami that the industry is "moving into a world where essentially the entire economy is going to be tokenized."
Why it matters
Jefferies framed the shift as a migration of institutional attention away from speculative trading toward infrastructure that generates revenue from trading, payments, lending, and tokenized products. The bank pointed to the proposed CLARITY Act as potentially "the missing piece" that would reduce legal uncertainty and pull more heavily regulated firms into the market. The line investors should read closely, per the report, is the old saw that "investors frequently overestimate the magnitude of tech disruption in the near term and underestimate it over the longer term."
Wall Street is already wiring blockchain into core systems. JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, and other TradFi players are building blockchain into their business models regardless of bitcoin's price, and the conference featured executives from Ripple, Kraken, Galaxy (GLXY), Bullish (BLSH) and Consensys.
Market impact
The IPO pipeline is the nearer-term catalyst. Securitize and Payward, the parent of Kraken, are finalizing listings after a 2025 boom in digital-asset public offerings, and Jefferies expects another wave before year-end.
Frequently asked questions
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What did Jefferies actually say about crypto IPOs?
Jefferies expects a wave of crypto and blockchain-related public listings over the next two years and believes the sector could grow into a $1 trillion public market within five years, per a report following its first Digital Assets Investor Conference in New York.
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Which companies are lined up to go public?
The report highlighted Securitize and Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, as firms finalizing IPO plans, with another wave of crypto offerings expected later this year.
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Why is the focus shifting from bitcoin price to tokenization?
Jefferies said investors are rotating attention away from speculative trading toward infrastructure that generates revenue from trading, payments, lending, and tokenized financial products, with tokenized money market funds, private credit, and settlement networks moving into production.
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What is the CLARITY Act and why does Jefferies care?
The CLARITY Act is proposed U.S. legislation that would establish a broader market structure framework for digital assets. Jefferies called it potentially "the missing piece" that could reduce legal uncertainty and pull more regulated institutions into blockchain-based finance.
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How are TradFi firms actually using blockchain right now?
JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, and other TradFi players are integrating blockchain into core systems for faster settlement, improved capital efficiency, and lower-cost payments. Bullish agreed to acquire transfer agent Equiniti for $4.2 billion to strengthen blockchain-based settlement, and Securitize partnered with…
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