TL;DR:
- Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo said tokenized stocks and ETFs could become a $5 trillion market if 2% to 3% of global equities and ETFs move onchain.
- He contrasted true tokenized shares with synthetic products that lack voting rights or dividends, making ownership quality central.
- Securitize, DTCC, Nasdaq and ICE-linked initiatives are testing onchain settlement, with public blockchains, especially Ethereum, framed as leading infrastructure for institutional adoption over the next cycle.
Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo has put a $5 trillion number on tokenized stocks and ETFs, turning a familiar tokenization pitch into a concrete market target. Speaking at ETHConf in New York on June 9, he framed the figure as simple arithmetic: if 2% to 3% of roughly $150 trillion in global equities and ETFs moves onchain, today’s real-world asset market could expand more than hundredfold. The bold idea is that stocks, not bonds, may define tokenization’s next phase.
Wall Street’s settlement rails start moving onchain
The comparison with Treasuries explains why the claim matters. Tokenized U.S. Treasuries have already grown to around $15 billion, with BlackRock, JPMorgan and Fidelity active in that market. Domingo sees that as a prologue, not the main event, because global investors primarily want equities. He also drew a line between true tokenized shares and synthetic stock products that track price but offer no voting rights or dividends. The infrastructure question is whether tokenized ownership can become real ownership, not just another replica of market exposure.
Securitize is positioning itself inside that transition. The company, already known as a BlackRock partner, is preparing for a public listing and has announced deals with the New York Stock Exchange and transfer agent Computershare to bring securities settlement onchain. DTCC is moving in parallel, with limited production operations for tokenized assets expected in July, broader rollout planned for October and public Stellar integration projected for the first half of 2027. The machinery behind equities is beginning to test shared ledgers, and that is more important than another trading app launch.
The race is spreading across major venues. Nasdaq is working on blockchain-based equity infrastructure with Payward, Kraken’s parent company, while ICE, owner of the NYSE, is backing initiatives linked to OKX. The promised benefits are faster settlement, more portable collateral and markets that can function beyond traditional hours. The unresolved issue is which rails institutions will trust, with Domingo pointing to public blockchains, especially Ethereum, as the strongest base. The $5 trillion figure is not certainty. It is a threshold that could look less distant if real shares, full rights and institutional settlement reach public ledgers by end-2027 at meaningful public market scale globally.
