Tokenized stocks are where stablecoins were in 2020

Stablecoins took a U.S. asset, the dollar, and made it available to anyone with a crypto wallet. Third-party issuers such as Tether and Circle hold reserves, mostly cash and short-term U.S. Treasuries, with custodians and issue tokens backed 1:1 by them. The tokens then move on public blockchains 24/7.

Tokenized stocks apply the same model to U.S. stocks and ETFs. A third-party issuer holds the shares with a custodian, issues tokens backed 1:1 by them, and the tokens move on public blockchains. Issuers earn fees on minting and redemption, DeFi venues earn from trading and lending the tokens, and blockchains earn transaction fees.

Using Token Terminal data, this newsletter covers (1) how tokenized stocks compare with stablecoins in 2020, (2) how much of the market follows the stablecoin model, and (3) which companies are being tokenized.

1) Where stablecoins were in 2020

• Tokenized stocks reached $4.64b in market cap on October 28, 2026, the level stablecoins first passed in March 2020. Stablecoins have since grown 63.85x, to $296.13b. Three issuers, Binance bStocks, Ondo, and xStocks, account for 81.17% of tokenized stock market cap.

2) Built on the stablecoin model

• Collateralized tokens make up 85.74% of tokenized stock market cap, or $3.98b. In this model, a third-party issuer holds the shares with a custodian and issues tokens backed 1:1 by them, the same way a stablecoin issuer holds reserves for its tokens. Issuer-sponsored tokens, which are a company's own shares recorded on its register, make up $386.26m, and synthetic tokens, which track a stock's price without shares held as backing, make up $227.26m.

3) Backed by U.S. companies

• U.S. companies and ETFs underlie 91.70% of tokenized stock market cap. Stocks of U.S. companies account for $3.07b, and ETFs listed in the U.S. for $1.13b. Another $59.14m tracks private U.S. companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic. Non-U.S. companies, including multi-asset baskets, make up the remaining $385.16m.

Stablecoins showed that third-party issuers, custodians, and public blockchains can take a U.S. asset to users worldwide. Most tokenized stocks are built the same way, and almost all of them track U.S. companies.

Tokenized assets

• Listed Arca's Institutional U.S. Treasury Fund (TFND) with tZERO on Avalanche, with $4.8 million of circulating asset market cap. Learn more on the asset's fact sheet.

• Listed Polkadot's dotUSD (dotUSD) on Polkadot Asset Hub, with $4.2 million of circulating asset market cap. Learn more on the asset's fact sheet.

• Listed three D share classes of Spiko's Spiko Amundi Overnight Swap Fund (SAFOd, eurSAFOd, gbpSAFOd) on Arbitrum, with $280.7 million of circulating asset market cap. Learn more on the issuer's project page.

• Listed 8 more Midas tokenized funds on Ethereum, Base, Optimism, Robinhood Chain, Avalanche and Solana, taking the catalog to 31 assets, led by Midas Fasanara Global Open (mGLO) at $179.3 million of circulating asset market cap. Learn more on the issuer's project page.

Ecosystems

• Added 26,270 contract labels across Polkadot, Hedera, Cardano, Starknet and Stellar. This covers 288 projects across all ecosystems.

Interested in getting listed? Read more here.

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