Coinbase CEO, Brian Armstrong: Tokenized Stocks Are Coming Faster Than You Think

Ben Graham · January 12

In early 2025, Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, one of the world’s largest asset manager, said tokenization would be a $1T-industry by the end of the decade. Roughly a year later, billions worth of assets, mostly cash and US Treasuries, have been tokenized on leading chains, mainly Ethereum.

Now, Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase, which is one of the largest crypto exchanges enabling the trading of meme coins, thinks the future is tokenization. Armstrong said tokenized stocks will be “huge,” pointing to a wave of blockchain-based versions of traditional shares.

Despite these comments, Ethereum (ETH) and Polygon (POL) are steady. POL is pinned below $0.20, down nearly 13% in the last 24 hours.

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Coinbase and Tokenized Stocks

These remarks land as tokenized real‑world assets quietly grow into one of crypto’s fastest-moving corners.

So far, stablecoins, which are digital cash tracking currencies, mostly the USD, continue to grow in strength.

As of early January, over $310Bn of stablecoins have been minted.

(Source: Coingecko)

Meanwhile, tokenized stocks are also gaining traction, even shaping 2025.

Tokenization took over in 2025.

At the start of the year we highlighted the $867 trillion tokenization opportunity and that “now is the time to bring institutional-grade RWAs onchain.”

That’s exactly what Ondo achieved:

1. Launching the largest tokenized stock platform
2.… pic.twitter.com/cihlm9JHS2

— Ondo Finance (@OndoFinance) December 31, 2025

For beginners, tokenized stocks are blockchain tokens that track real company shares like Apple or Tesla. Think of them as a digital receipt that moves on a blockchain instead of a stock exchange. You trade them in a crypto wallet, not a brokerage account.

Most importantly, tokenized stocks trade 24/7, settle almost instantly, and can allow smaller buy-ins. No waiting days for trades to clear.

Armstrong’s interest is not new.

Coinbase has pushed for tokenized securities since 2021, betting that blockchains can move stocks faster and cheaper than legacy rails.

Despite Donald Trump’s pro-crypto stance, Coinbase has been pushing hard, urging regulators to open up to the idea of creating new trading products, including tokenized stocks.

In a February 2025 earnings call, Armstrong said these new crypto products “offer a lot of promise to consumers around being able to trade 24/7.”

They also recently announced Coinbase Tokenize for institutions.

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The Rise and Rise of Tokenization

The tokenization market is no longer a tiny niche.

As of January 12, over $800M of public equity had been tokenized.

(Source:rwa.xyz)

As more stocks are ported to public chains and made available to retailers, more platforms like Kraken, Bybit, KuCoin, and Robinhood are actively rolling them out.

Robinhood now offers more than 200 tokenized stocks in Europe.

Galaxy Digital even tokenized 32,374 shares of its own US stock on Solana, showing that firms are moving beyond synthetic copies into real share experiments.

Overall, tokenized real‑world assets like stocks, bonds, and funds now sit at over $375Bn across blockchains.

That growth explains why Coinbase keeps talking about it in its 2026 outlook.

If tokenized stocks work as planned, access changes first. Global investors can trade US shares without US broker accounts.

Settlement becomes near‑instant, not two business days.

Costs also matter. Blockchains cut out layers of middlemen. That can mean lower fees, especially for small trades. For newcomers, that removes one more friction point when starting out.

For Coinbase, this opens a new business line beyond spot crypto trading. More products mean more fees.

Bullish as this is for crypto, regulators are watching closely.

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce has said tokenized securities are still securities, even when they live on a blockchain.

That means rules still apply.

To counter this, some crypto platforms offer synthetic exposure without owning real shares. Others back tokens one‑to‑one. To lean on caution, traders must check which is which.

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