Crypto exchanges are abandoning new token listings in favor of tokenized stocks and ETFs as primary products, according to analysis by Delphi Consulting covering 652 listings across five major platforms from January 2025 through May 2026.
The shift reflects a structural collapse in token launch economics. Across Binance, Bybit, Coinbase, Gate.io, and Kraken, the median return for new tokens was negative 82 percent. Only 12 percent of listings posted gains. Fifty-two percent of tokens lost more than 80 percent of their value. As Delphi Consulting noted in its analysis, “A user buying every new token across Binance, Bybit, Coinbase, Gate.io, and Kraken would have kept roughly 50 cents on the dollar.”
Kraken now offers 100+ tokenized stocks and ETFs with 24/5 trading hours and $1 minimum investments. The platform supports self-custody and describes xStocks as providing “price exposure without shareholder rights such as voting.” Robinhood EU lists 2,000+ Stock Tokens linked to companies including Nvidia, Microsoft, and Apple, with €1 minimums and 24/5 access. Coinbase offers stock and ETF trading inside its crypto app with zero commission and $1 fractional shares for US users, with plans to make tokenized stocks available globally as on-chain collateral.
The addressable market is expanding rapidly. Tokenized stocks held $1.48 billion in distributed value as of June 1. Monthly transfer volume for tokenized stocks reached $4.2 billion. Over 30 days, tokenized stock value increased 39 percent.
Binance Research attributes the pivot to an equity ownership gap between developed and emerging markets. In the US, 62 percent of the population owns equities. Outside the US, ownership rates fall below 20 percent. Some AI-cycle stocks trade above $1,000 per share while average monthly wages in parts of Africa and Southern Asia remain below $300. Tokenized stocks with fractional ownership and low minimums address this friction directly.
Binance Research projects that by 2031, tokenized equities could attract 300 million new users and $2 trillion in incremental capital under a base case scenario. A bull case scenario projects $5 trillion in annual incremental equity capital flowing through crypto infrastructure.
Custody and Counterparty Risk
Regulatory warnings complicate the narrative. Robinhood describes Stock Tokens as “derivative contracts that carry liquidity, currency, and counterparty risks.” The SEC has warned that “third-party and synthetic tokenized securities may not represent ownership of or contractual obligations tied to the underlying security, exposing holders to the risk of issuer or custodian bankruptcy.”
The tension is acute in emerging markets. Tokenized stocks reduce infrastructure barriers and expand access, but synthetic product structures expose users in jurisdictions with weak bankruptcy protections to issuer and custodian failure during market stress.
Stablecoin and Collateral Demand
The shift to tokenized equities has structural implications for stablecoin demand. Binance Research reports that TradFi-linked perpetuals account for roughly 10 percent of stablecoin trading volume. Stablecoins also reduce cross-border settlement costs. The average cost reduction from stablecoin off-ramps is 3.6 percent, with per-transaction savings reaching $40 in some corridors.
Coinbase’s plan to use tokenized stocks as on-chain collateral signals a longer-term bet: that equity tokenization will create native demand for crypto-denominated settlement and staking layers. Whether exchanges commit to product designs that enable this collateral function remains unclear.
