CoinDesk
Tokenized US stocks are delivering crypto's long-promised benefits of 24/7 trading and fractional ownership, with more than half of trades occurring outside regular market hours and about 80% involving less than one share, according to a new IMF study in its Global Financial Stability Report, Scaling Tokenization: New efficiencies and new vulnerabilities.
The IMF examined the five most actively traded tokenized US equities, including Tesla (TSLA), Nvidia (NVDA) and Alphabet (GOOG), plus the Nasdaq 100 Index, across centralized and decentralized venues. The report found overnight price moves carried genuine information: more than 85% of overnight movement in tokenized shares was reflected in their traditional counterparts within five minutes of the US open.
Why it matters
The IMF's message is that the use case is real, but the market is nascent. Tokenized equities account for roughly $2.3 billion of an estimated $65 billion tokenized real-world asset market, a rounding error against the roughly $160 trillion global equity market capitalization. Tokenized stocks traded at about 1.5 times the volatility of equivalent shares on traditional venues, with significantly less liquidity.
The report warned that fragmented infrastructure, split across private platforms, public blockchains, custodians and settlement tools that often do not work together, is holding back the promised savings in cost and time. Legal rules on ownership, liquidity safeguards, interoperability and settlement arrangements need to develop before the market scales, or automated margin calls and round-the-clock trading could make a market shock harder to contain.
Market impact
Adoption is accelerating regardless. Bullish (BLSH) launched tokenized equity trading in August, and OKX and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), owner of the New York Stock Exchange, filed plans this month for a venue offering round-the-clock trading in tokenized US shares. Coinbase, Kraken, Binance and Robinhood (HOOD) already offer tokenized stock trading.
"Moving assets onchain is only the first step," said Bitget CEO Gracy Chen.
Frequently asked questions
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How large is the tokenized equities market according to the IMF?
Tokenized equities account for roughly $2.3 billion of an estimated $65 billion tokenized real-world asset market as of July 31, a fraction of the roughly $160 trillion global equity market capitalization.
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Do investors actually trade tokenized stocks outside market hours?
Yes. The IMF found more than half of tokenized US equity trades occurred outside regular US market hours, and about 80% of trades were for less than one full share, evidence investors value 24/7 access and fractional entry points.
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How volatile are tokenized stocks compared to regular shares?
The IMF found tokenized stocks were about 1.5 times as volatile as equivalent shares on traditional venues and significantly less liquid, reflecting the market's small size and fragmentation.
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Do tokenized stock prices influence the underlying shares?
Yes. The IMF found that more than 85% of overnight price movement in tokenized shares was reflected in their conventional counterparts within five minutes of US markets opening, showing the data carries real information.
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Which companies offer tokenized stock trading?
Coinbase, Kraken, Binance and Robinhood already offer tokenized stock trading. Bullish launched tokenized equity trading in August, and OKX and Intercontinental Exchange filed plans for a venue offering round-the-clock trading in tokenized US shares.
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