Securitize CEO says stock tokens could push RWA market to $5 trillion and pull more users into crypto
Carlos Domingo, CEO of Securitize, says tokenized stocks and ETFs could take the real world asset (RWA) market to $5 trillion and bring more blockchain use along with it. At ETHConf in New York, Domingo argued that moving even a small share of global equities on-chain could send trillions of dollars into crypto infrastructure and make foreign market access less painful for investors. My take: the access point matters more than the headline number.
His estimate starts with the global stock and ETF market, which he put at about $150 trillion. If 2% to 3% of that market ends up on blockchain platforms, Domingo says RWAs could reach roughly $5 trillion. That would be a sharp jump from today’s roughly $30 billion RWA market. So far, the cleaner example has been tokenized U.S. Treasury products, especially over the past two years. Treasurys proved there was demand. Stocks and ETFs are the larger target, at least for Domingo, because retail and institutional investors already recognize the wrapper. They know the thing.
Tokenized stocks and ETFs would put familiar financial products on programmable ledgers. In theory, that means shorter settlement times and lower back-office costs. It also means fractional ownership, plus 24/7 trading for securities that normally depend on brokerage hours, clearing systems, market calendars, and the usual middle-office drag. Why does this matter? Because crypto still needs uses that are not just another rush into the next trade. I’ll be honest: this is the part of the argument I find strongest.
A $5 trillion RWA market would put a large amount of capital on crypto rails. Domingo’s case is that more tokenized assets would also create more demand for networks such as Ethereum (ETH), which can work as settlement infrastructure and requires gas for transactions. There is a precedent, but it is not a perfect one. Institutional demand through spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs helped push BTC to an all-time high of $73,750 in March 2024. Most bullish takes stop there. That’s only half right. A small slice of the $150 trillion stock market moving through blockchain systems would be different from an ETF bid for BTC; it would test whether blockchains can carry routine market activity, not just absorb speculative inflows. That proof would matter for ETH, especially if network activity rises while the asset trades around the $3,500 area.
The interesting part is what happens when traditional finance and DeFi start using the same infrastructure. Domingo expects tokenized assets to create new ways to chase yield and reach markets. Portfolios change too. I would be careful with that. “Capital rotation” sounds much neater than markets usually are. Still, if a meaningful share of the stock market moves on-chain, crypto could get capital that stays there instead of jumping from one altcoin cycle to the next. That could make the market less brittle. In a downturn, investors might not leave on-chain markets completely. They might move between tokenized funds, Treasurys, equities, and stablecoins without going back into traditional accounts.
Domingo’s forecast fits the current push to bring mainstream financial assets onto blockchains. If that happens, regulators will pay close attention. Custody, compliance, transfer rules, investor access, chain interoperability: none of these are small problems. Counter to the usual advice, the technology may not be the hardest part here. The sector is still young, and young markets tend to talk as if change will arrive faster than it does. But the direction is pretty clear. Tokenized U.S. Treasurys took the first real swing. Domingo thinks stocks and ETFs come next.
What this means
This would move tokenization out of a niche corner of finance and closer to the middle of capital markets. For crypto investors, the appeal is easy to see: more capital and more transactions. It also gives smart contract networks such as Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) a stronger reason to exist beyond speculation. Does that mean global finance gets rebuilt overnight? No. It means blockchains could become part of the plumbing for assets people already own and trade every day. Less flashy. More useful.
To track the trend, watch what large financial institutions launch, not just what executives say at conferences. RWA protocol TVL is the cleanest number to compare with today’s roughly $30 billion base. Partnerships with tokenization firms matter. So do pilots for on-chain equities and filings tied to tokenized securities. My bias here is simple: filings beat conference quotes. Regulation is the bottleneck, and SEC guidance, or similar action from major overseas regulators, could decide how quickly institutions move. A tokenized ETF announcement from a firm like BlackRock or Fidelity would be a signal the market could not ignore.