Global tokenized stock market capitalization surpasses $23 billion: Kraken, Binance, and Ondo Finance drive upgrades to on-chain securities infrastructure

Core Summary

LeadingTokenized Stock Market ValueBreakthrough on June 16, 2026 $ 23 millionRecord high

Ethereum(34%),BNB Chain(30%) and Solana(23%) The three chains together account for 87% of the market share.

Ondo Finance Leading the issuance side with $9.55 million in assets under custody,Kraken xStocks(5.07 million) and Binance bStocks(3.34 million) followed.

Tokenized stocks account for only a small percentage of the total. The RWA market is worth $340 billion.With a growth rate of 5.5%, there is significant room for further growth.

Platforms such as Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken are accelerating the deployment of on-chain securities infrastructure, enabling global investors to access [better securities].Fragmented stock holdings + 24-hour tradingcross-border channels

📑 Table of Contents

Market Overview: $23 Billion Milestone — On-chain distribution and issuer landscape
Platform Race: On-Chain Securities Infrastructure for Exchanges — The strategic deployment paths of Binance, Kraken, and Coinbase
RWA Tokenization Landscape: Stocks are just the tip of the iceberg — Category expansion behind 589% growth
Licensing and Compliance Perspective: Regulatory Undercurrents in Cross-Border Securities Issuance — Jurisdiction and Licensing Requirements for Tokenized Shares

This article was originally written by the Aiying Compliance Team and requires authorization to be reproduced.

On July 16, 2026, a data aggregation platform, Token Terminal, released on-chain data that attracted widespread attention in the industry: the total market capitalization of global tokenized stocks surpassed $23 billion for the first time, setting a new record since the category's inception. While this figure is insignificant compared to the global stock market's scale of over $7 trillion, the growth rate and the lineup of participants are enough to prompt compliance practitioners to re-examine the regulatory landscape of on-chain securities issuance.

I. Market Overview: The $23 Billion Milestone

Three chains dominate, oligopoly undetermined.

According to data released by Token Terminal on July 16 , the current tokenized stock market exhibits a clear trend of concentration across different blockchain networks: Ethereum ranks first with a 34% market share, followed closely by BNB Chain with 30%, and Solana ranks third with 23%. These three public chains collectively control 87% of the market share, with the remaining share scattered across multiple emerging networks ( Cointelegraph, 2026-07-16 ).

Distribution landscape: Ondo stands far ahead

From the perspective of issuance, the landscape is even more distinct:

Ondo Finance:by $ 9.55 millionOndo maintains its leading position in on-chain equity asset custody. Ondo is not an exchange, but rather a token-making platform focused on packaging real-world assets into on-chain tokens and redistributing them across various trading ecosystems.
Kraken xStocks:contribute $ 5.07 millionThis is the sector with the most significant recent growth. Since its launch in April 2025, xStocks' cumulative trading volume has exceeded [amount missing]. $ 250 million
Binance bStocks:by $ 3.34 millionRanked third, it launched zero-commission trading for over 7,000 US stocks on June 1, 2026.

II. Platform Race: On-Chain Securities Infrastructure of Exchanges

Binance: Zero commission + 7000 US stocks

On June 1, 2026, Binance opened up zero-commission trading for over 7,000 US tokenized stocks to qualified users . This was a key step in Binance's transformation from a pure crypto exchange to a multi-asset platform, and its most aggressive move in bringing traditional securities into the on-chain ecosystem ( Cointelegraph ).

Kraken xStocks: 11,000 stocks + $250 billion in trading volume

Kraken launched xStocks in April 2025, covering 11,000 US-listed stocks and ETFs, making it the most comprehensive tokenized stock product on a crypto-native platform. Within approximately eight months of its launch, xStocks' cumulative trading volume exceeded $25 billion ( Cointelegraph ).

Coinbase: Commission-free trading of US stocks and ETFs

In December 2025, Coinbase launched commission-free trading of US stocks and ETFs, available 24/12, 5 days a week . This move transformed Coinbase from a single crypto trading platform into a comprehensive financial services provider ( Coinbase Blog, 2025-12 ).

Other participants

In April 2026, Bitget launched a proxy product linked to SpaceX's pre-IPO shares; in January 2026, Vienna-based crypto exchange Bitpanda announced plans to expand its product line to approximately 10,000 stocks and ETFs. European and Asian platforms followed suit, and tokenized stocks are spreading globally from the US market.

III. The Big Picture of RWA Tokenization: Stocks are just the tip of the iceberg

Explosive growth of 589%

According to a report released by Binance Research in June 2026 , the tokenized real-world asset (RWA) market surged by 589% from the beginning of 2025 to June 2026 , primarily driven by the tokenization of government bonds and money market funds. The current global RWA market size is approximately $34 billion ( RWA.xyz ), with tokenized stocks accounting for only about 5.5%.

Category distribution

The market capitalization distribution of RWA across different product categories is as follows:

Tokenized US Treasury BondsApproximately $150 billion, accounting for 44%, making it the absolute mainstay of the RWA market.
Tokenized CommoditiesApproximately US$45 billion, accounting for 13% (of whichTokenized precious metals(Approximately $15 billion, a 39% increase)
Tokenized StocksApproximately US$23 billion, accounting for 5.5%.
Others(Private lending, real estate, etc.): Approximately US$122 billion

This data suggests that although equity tokenization is far less prevalent than government bonds in terms of market share, its growth rate and concentrated investment in exchange infrastructure indicate that this category may become the next breakout point for the RWA market.

IV. Licensing and Compliance Perspective: The Regulatory Undercurrents in Cross-border Securities Issuance

Jurisdiction issue: Who regulates "on-chain US stocks"?

The core compliance controversy surrounding tokenized stocks lies in jurisdiction . Kraken xStocks and Binance bStocks primarily offer on-chain exposure to US stocks to non-US investors, which largely circumvents the direct jurisdiction of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)—the tokens themselves circulate on-chain, the issuers and exchanges are registered in different jurisdictions, but the underlying assets (US stocks) are in the United States.

For non-US investors, the legal nature of purchasing tokenized US stocks through exchanges—whether it constitutes "purchasing securities" or "acquiring synthetic exposure"—remains unclear. If regulatory agencies in various countries determine that tokenized stocks constitute securities, the relevant exchanges may need to apply for securities trading licenses or multilateral trading facility (MTF) licenses for each market they serve.

Within the United States: Can the Clarity Act provide an answer?

The CLARITY Act (Clarity of Digital Asset Markets Act), currently under consideration in the U.S. Congress, aims to resolve the long-standing dispute between the SEC and CFTC regarding jurisdiction over digital assets. If passed, this bill would, for the first time, clearly define at the federal level which digital assets constitute securities and which constitute commodities. This will have a decisive impact on the classification and compliance path of tokenized stocks—on July 16, Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger stated at the Injective Summit that a Senate vote could take place as early as next week ( Cointelegraph, 2026-07-16 ).

Opportunity window for licensed institutions

For compliant entities already licensed in multiple jurisdictions, the rapid growth of tokenized shares represents a clear business opportunity: once the regulatory framework is clarified, those with securities trading licenses , custody licenses , and AML/KYC infrastructure will have a first-mover advantage, becoming the "compliance infrastructure layer" of this emerging market. Conversely, the regulatory risks faced by unlicensed exchanges and issuers will increase significantly as the market expands.

FAQ

Q1: What are the differences between tokenized stocks and traditional stocks?

Tokenized stocks are traditional company shares registered as digital certificates on the blockchain. The underlying asset relationships are the same, but the trading method differs: investors can acquire fractional shareholdings (buying less than one share) and enjoy 24/7 trading , unrestricted by the operating hours of traditional exchanges. The counterparty is the exchange or market maker, not a traditional brokerage.

Q2: Do tokenized stocks constitute securities?

This depends on the legal definition of the specific jurisdiction. In the United States, if tokenized shares represent actual ownership of the underlying company's stock (rather than synthetic derivatives), they are likely to be classified as securities and subject to SEC regulation. However, in non-US markets, regulatory agencies have differing positions on this issue. If passed, the CLARITY Act would be the first significant piece of legislation to define the securities nature of digital assets at the federal level.

This article is based on the following primary sources: