Guilhem Chaumont, CEO of crypto market maker Flowdesk, said that as financial institutions bring stocks and ETFs on-chain, tokenized stocks are expected to replicate the growth trajectory of stablecoins within the next four to five years.
Chaumont pointed out that the crypto industry's focus is shifting from tokenized fiat currency to bringing highly liquid financial assets onto blockchain networks, and that regulatory approval and institutional risk management will determine the speed at which this shift unfolds.
According to Token Terminal data, the market capitalization of tokenized stocks has reached approximately $4.63 billion, comparable to the size of the stablecoin market in March 2020. Since then, stablecoins have expanded nearly 64-fold to about $297 billion—a figure regarded as a reference point for the potential growth space of tokenized stocks.
The current market is highly concentrated, with Binance bStocks, Ondo Finance, and xStocks together accounting for more than 80% of the tokenized stock market capitalization.
Chaumont described the past four to five years as a "stablecoin experimentation period" and believes the next phase will focus on assets with mature liquidity, including stocks and ETFs. Such assets are ultimately expected to enable round-the-clock trading on blockchain, freeing investment access from the trading hours of traditional exchanges.
Despite the continued rise in tokenization enthusiasm, large financial institutions remain cautious about moving large sums of capital on-chain. Chaumont noted that three years ago only a very small number of institutions believed tokenization represented the future, whereas today the technology has gained broad recognition in traditional finance.
But institutional investors still need to answer a series of operational questions: whether assets can be tokenized at scale, how these assets will be custodied, and whether the associated risks meet internal compliance requirements. Chaumont specifically pointed out that, against the backdrop of crypto platforms still frequently suffering major security incidents, tokenizing billion-dollar-scale assets while maintaining institutional-grade security standards is particularly difficult.
Such concerns were further intensified after the Binance security incident—which resulted in approximately $6.3 billion in unauthorized outflows from the exchange's hot wallets. Binance has committed to covering user losses and stated that about $3 billion of the affected assets have been frozen. Chaumont believes that incidents of this magnitude are precisely why institutional risk teams are reluctant to move large balances on-chain, even when regulators have already approved tokenized products.
He expects that as custody arrangements, settlement infrastructure, and regulatory standards gradually mature, institutional adoption will accelerate, allowing tokenized securities to operate within existing financial risk frameworks.
Token Terminal's market research shows that about 86% of tokenized stocks are backed by collateral structures—that is, a third-party issuer holds the underlying securities and issues on-chain tokens representing exposure to that asset. Issuer-led tokenization and synthetic products account for a smaller share, reflecting different market orientations regarding ownership, custody, and settlement pathways.
The market expanded rapidly in 2026, climbing from less than $1 billion at the start of the year to more than $4.6 billion by late October. However, tokenized stocks currently still account for only a very small portion of the traditional stock market, and their growth does not necessarily replicate the stablecoin curve.
Flowdesk provides market-making and institutional trading services across more than 150 trading venues, positioning it in an infrastructure segment that could benefit from the expansion of the tokenized asset market. Chaumont believes that in the coming years, what will determine the pace of adoption will be the regulatory environment and institutional confidence, rather than mere technological availability.
