Tokenization of Stocks: Where It Really Stands in 2026 (and Which Blockchains Win)

Tokenization is no longer a “someday” idea. It’s already happening — but the way stocks are being tokenized today is mostly not the same thing as putting Apple shares directly on-chain.

The current market is a blend of:

• Wrapped / SPV-backed “stock tokens” (economic exposure, often not shareholder rights)

• Custody-backed tokenized equities issued under specific regulatory frameworks

• Infrastructure pilots (especially in the U.S.) that aim to modernize the plumbing of markets (clearing, settlement, entitlement records)

Below is the real status of tokenized stocks right now, the latest developments, and the blockchains most likely to benefit as real-world asset (RWA) tokenization scales.

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1) What “Tokenized Stocks” Actually Mean Today

A) “Economic exposure” tokens (most common right now)

These products typically give price exposure via:

• an SPV (special purpose vehicle),

• a derivative contract,

• or a custodian-held underlying position,

…but they may not give you the legal rights of owning the underlying share (voting, direct shareholder privileges, etc.). Regulators have explicitly warned about investor confusion here. Reuters+1

B) Regulated tokenized securities (harder, slower, but “real”)

This is the direction institutions want: tokens that map cleanly to regulated securities rails, with proper transfer restrictions, custody, compliance, and investor protections.

The biggest “tell” that this is moving from theory to reality: DTCC/DTC is now piloting tokenization services under SEC staff no-action relief. SEC+2Mayer Brown+2

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2) Current Status: How Big Is Tokenized Stock Activity?

Tokenized public stocks are still small relative to global equities — but they’re no longer trivial.

RWA.xyz (a widely cited dashboard for tokenized RWAs) currently shows tokenized public stocks at roughly $797M total value and multi-billions in monthly transfer volume (their dashboard updates frequently). RWA.xyz

That’s not “Wall Street on-chain” yet — but it’s enough size for serious infrastructure players to care.

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3) The Biggest Live Market: xStocks and the “Tokenized Equities” Stack

xStocks (Backed) — the most visible tokenized equities program

Backed’s xStocks brought dozens of U.S. equities and ETFs on-chain (tickers ending in “x,” like NVDAx). The Solana ecosystem has published a detailed case study on the launch and early traction. Solana+2backed.fi+2

A major acceleration point: Kraken says it plans to acquire Backed Finance and expand xStocks across multiple chains (TON mentioned, plus deployments underway on Mantle and TRON), positioning xStocks as a multi-chain standard rather than a single-chain experiment. Kraken Blog

Why this matters:
If you can mint, transfer, and use equity tokens as collateral across venues and chains, tokenized stocks start behaving like the building blocks of a new prime brokerage layer.

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4) Robinhood’s Move: Tokenized Stock Access in Europe + Its Own L2

Robinhood launched tokenized stock access for European customers and stated that future tokenized stocks will be facilitated by a Robinhood Layer 2 built on Arbitrum. Robinhood+2CoinDesk+2

Their EU disclosure docs also describe stock tokens as blockchain-traded tokens representing exposure via the contract structure — again highlighting how today’s “stock tokens” can differ from direct share ownership. Robinhood

Takeaway: Robinhood is signaling that tokenized stocks will be a product surface, and the L2 is their distribution + cost/control layer.

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5) The U.S. Angle: Coinbase + DTCC = “This Is Getting Real”

Coinbase

Reuters reported Coinbase is seeking U.S. SEC approval to offer tokenized equities (i.e., blockchain-based stocks), noting it would likely require SEC relief because Coinbase isn’t registered as a broker-dealer. Reuters

Coinbase itself has also been messaging that it’s building an institutional tokenization platform (“Coinbase Tokenize”) intended to support tokenized stocks — with more updates expected “early next year.” Coinbase

DTCC / DTC

The SEC staff no-action letter to DTC allows a pilot where security entitlements to DTC-held securities may be recorded using DLT rather than only DTC’s centralized ledger. That’s not a DeFi-native “stock token,” but it’s arguably more important: it modernizes the core ledger of the U.S. market. SEC+2Mayer Brown+2

This is the real game:
Tokenization that plugs into the official market structure — custody, clearing, settlement, entitlements — not just a wrapper token trading offshore.

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6) Latest News That Matters for Tokenization (Beyond Stocks)

Tokenized assets don’t scale without stablecoin settlement + interoperability. Reuters just covered Barclays investing in Ubyx, a stablecoin settlement/clearing network designed to facilitate settlements across stablecoins from different issuers. That’s the kind of “plumbing” you need for always-on tokenized markets. Reuters

Also, the institutional tokenized fund market keeps expanding — e.g., Reuters reported DBS, Franklin Templeton, and Ripple working on tokenized money market fund trading and collateral use, with issuance on XRPL in that initiative. Reuters

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7) Which Blockchains Benefit Most From Tokenization of Real Assets?

Here’s the clean way to think about “winners”:

The chains that win are the ones that can do compliance + scale + composability

Meaning:

• identity / allowlists (when required),

• institutional-grade custody and controls,

• predictable fees and throughput,

• deep integration with exchanges, wallets, and stablecoins,

• and enough liquidity gravity to make tokenized assets useful as collateral.

1) Ethereum (and its L2s): The institutional default + settlement gravity

Ethereum remains the center of gravity for regulated RWA issuance because it has:

• the deepest institutional integration,

• the most mature token standards and tooling,

• and broad custody support.

BlackRock’s tokenized fund BUIDL launched on Ethereum (via Securitize) — one of the most cited proofs that tokenization is moving into mainstream asset management. FinTech Futures+1

Why L2s matter:
As brokerages and consumer platforms tokenize assets, L2s offer cheaper, faster rails while still anchoring to Ethereum security assumptions. Robinhood explicitly chose an Arbitrum-based approach for its own L2 plan. Robinhood+1

Likely beneficiaries: Ethereum, Arbitrum (and potentially other major L2s depending on distribution deals).

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2) Solana: High-throughput public chain winning early tokenized equity market share

Solana has become the clearest “tokenized equities” hotspot so far because:

• xStocks launched there with broad equity coverage, and

• research write-ups and ecosystem case studies point to strong activity concentration. Solana+1

If tokenized stocks become a 24/7 global trading product with high transfer volume, Solana’s speed + low fees are a natural fit — as long as compliance/custody wrappers keep regulators comfortable.

Likely beneficiaries: Solana and any market infrastructure built around it (exchanges, prime-style services, custody integrations).

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3) Arbitrum (and the “brokerage L2” thesis)

Robinhood’s public positioning is a strong signal: tokenized stocks can be a brokerage product, and brokerages may want their own chain to control:

• costs,

• user experience,

• compliance gates,

• and settlement mechanics. Robinhood+1

Likely beneficiaries: Arbitrum ecosystem tooling, plus “app-specific L2” infrastructure.

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4) XRPL, Stellar, Canton: Regulated finance-friendly rails (quiet but real)

A lot of “serious” tokenization happens where compliance and institutional workflows are easiest.

• Reuters reported Franklin Templeton’s sgBENJI initiative involving issuance on XRP Ledger in the DBS/Ripple collaboration. Reuters

• Franklin Templeton also runs onchain fund infrastructure (“Benji”) and has expanded across networks in various initiatives. digitalassets.franklintempleton.com+1

• Permissioned/consortium networks like Canton also keep showing up in institutional contexts. Canton Network

Likely beneficiaries: These networks may not dominate “degen DeFi,” but they can win meaningful institutional market share in regulated tokenization workflows.

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5) Permissioned bank chains (JPM, Goldman, etc.): Big for internal settlement, less for public composability

J.P. Morgan’s blockchain business (Kinexys) continues to expand tokenization and fund workflows. JPMorgan Chase+2JPMorgan Chase+2
These systems can move large value, but often remain inside walled gardens.

Likely beneficiaries: Their operators (banks) and enterprise vendors — but they don’t automatically create public-chain token demand the way open networks do.

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8) The Bottlenecks Holding Tokenized Stocks Back (for now)

1. Regulatory clarity (especially in the U.S.)
   Coinbase’s public push for SEC approval shows the U.S. is still gating retail-scale tokenized equities. Reuters

2. Shareholder rights vs price exposure
   ESMA warned tokenized stocks can mislead investors if they don’t confer shareholder rights. Reuters

3. Liquidity fragmentation
   Tokenized equities only truly take off when they have deep liquidity across venues and robust settlement rails (stablecoins + custody + clear legal structure).

4. Security and consumer protection
   As tokenized assets grow, scams and onchain security issues become a bigger gating factor for mainstream adoption. SEC

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The Most Likely 2026 Outcome: “Tokenized Markets” Before “Onchain Shares”

The highest-probability path looks like this:

• More tokenized funds, treasuries, and collateral first (already happening at scale with institutional participation) Investopedia+1

• Tokenized equities expanding outside the U.S. first (EU-facing products + offshore venues) Robinhood+1

• U.S. market plumbing tokenizes entitlements/settlement progressively (DTCC pilot) SEC+1

• Eventually: regulated tokenized equities in the U.S. (Coinbase and others are positioning for it) Reuters+1

If that happens, the biggest winners are the chains that become:

• collateral rails (where tokenized assets live and move),

• settlement rails (stablecoins and tokenized cash),

• and distribution rails (brokerage-integrated L2s and high-throughput public chains).