Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said tokenized stocks could reshape global markets by enabling 24/7 trading, fractional ownership, and real-time settlement, while also opening the door to perpetual futures and new forms of on-chain governance.
Armstrong lays out the case for tokenized equities
According to Armstrong, tokenized stocks can widen international access to equity markets and remove the limits imposed by traditional trading hours. He also said investors would be able to buy fractions of shares instead of whole units, which lowers the entry barrier for expensive stocks. Real-time settlement, in his view, would speed up transaction completion, and the same infrastructure could support perpetual futures and alternative governance models.
His comments line up with Coinbase’s broader expansion plan. Armstrong said the company aims to build an all-in-one exchange platform by 2026 that would support trading in crypto, stocks, and commodities.
Supporters focus on access while critics question legal structure
Reaction across the crypto sector has been mixed. Andreas Kohl backed the idea of tokenized shares but opposed derivatives based on CSD-held shares on Base. He argued that the larger opportunity lies in on-chain direct registration systems, or DRS, and disintermediated trading for native Bitcoin. Kohl also said post-fiat markets could avoid monetary policy manipulation and eliminate naked short selling.
Other critics focused on governance and enforcement. Some commentators accused Washington of leaning on old Wall Street politics to restrain blockchain innovation. German Foundation Coin said tokenization needs effective enforcement mechanisms, warning that access and liquidity may scale fast while trust and enforceability will not unless legal rights, settlement finality, and accountability are designed and enforced on-chain instead of being promised off-chain.
Retail demand is rising, but risks remain unsettled
Market observers said tokenization is expanding access for retail investors by opening products that were once aimed mainly at high-net-worth participants. Interest from smaller traders is growing quickly. At the same time, professionals have warned that tokenized stocks may operate with lighter oversight than traditional securities.
James Angel of Georgetown University said a token is not an instrument issued by the company itself and may function more like a side bet on corporate prospects. That view points to a central issue in this market: token exposure and legal shareholder rights do not automatically match, and the rules are still being debated.
Available data shows the total value of tokenized equity transfers reached about $2.46 billion last month. The market is expanding, but questions around on-chain enforcement, regulation, and investor rights remain unresolved.