The past week saw major U.S. tokenized stock venues each selecting different blockchains for their launches. The Wall Street Journal reported that the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) chose Avalanche as the sole settlement chain for its upcoming 24/7 trading platform. On November 4, $CNTN became the first U.S. equity to trade under the SEC's Innovation Exemption, with Five North selling tokenized $CNTN shares to DRW Cumberland on TSV, a permissioned venue on the Canton Network. Meanwhile, Formation announced plans to launch a venue on Solana, targeting an early 2027 debut.
Given the strict regulatory environment, no venue is adopting a multichain approach at launch. This strategy avoids the complexity of regulatory compliance and helps concentrate liquidity within a single network, adhering to the SEC's 0.25% average daily volume cap per asset.
The leading blockchains in tokenized stock volume have benefited from large exchanges launching their own products. BNB Chain's growth has been driven by Binance's bStocks, Base's rise by Coinbase, and Solana's volume by Kraken's xStocks. The chains that gain market share will likely be those that attract the biggest platforms and issuers.
Tokenized stocks have mirrored the early growth trajectory of stablecoins. 240 days after crossing $1 billion, stablecoins reached roughly $4 billion, while tokenized stocks stood at $3.7 billion. Tokenized Treasuries, at $2.5 billion at the same point, have since fallen behind. Although the growth rate may not be sustained, the trend remains promising.
The market for tokenized stocks and ETFs is expanding rapidly. The number of assets worth more than $1 million surged from three in January 2025 to 287 as of November 8, across roughly 4,400 tokenized assets and a $3.7 billion market. HTX launched spot trading in bStocks on Monday, offering 20 names including NVDA, TSLA, QQQ, and CRCL. Strategy and SpaceX are now the most tokenized issuers by asset count, indicating a broadening distribution of products.