Earlier this month, Robinhood and others announced that they would support U.S. stock trading on the blockchain and planned to launch their own public chain. At the same time, Kraken and others also launched U.S. stock token trading pairs such as AAPL, TSLA, and NVDA, setting off a wave of on-chain stock trading.

But is it really a new concept?

In fact, behind this seemingly sudden tokenization craze is the seven-year history of asset chain evolution in the crypto world - from early synthetic asset experiments, to the actual implementation of stablecoins, to the structured access of RWA (real world assets), the main narrative line of "asset × blockchain" has never been interrupted, but it is now ushering in a more realistic and institutional restart.

01. Tokenization of US stocks in new bottles

On the surface, stock tokenization seems to be a new trend in the Web3 world, but it is actually more like the resurgence of an old narrative.

Users who have experienced the last round of on-chain prosperity should still remember the entire set of synthetic asset mechanisms pioneered by projects such as Synthetix and Mirror, in which users can over-collateralize native crypto assets (such as SNX and UST) to mint "synthetic assets" (such as sAAPL and mTSLA) anchored to U.S. stocks, fiat currencies, indices, and even commodities on the chain, thereby achieving an asset trading experience without the need for intermediaries.

The biggest advantage of this model is that it does not require real asset custody and clearing, has no counterparty matching, and provides unlimited depth and zero slippage experience. However, the ideal is good, but the reality is harsh - oracle distortion, drastic asset fluctuations, frequent systemic risks, and a lack of real-world regulatory integration have led to the gradual withdrawal of this type of "synthetic asset" from the stage of history.

Today, the craze for tokenization of U.S. stocks is equivalent to moving from "asset synthesis" to "real stock mapping", which can be regarded as a new stage in the tokenization narrative entering "off-chain real asset docking".

Taking the U.S. stock token trading products launched by Robinhood and others as an example, judging from the disclosed information, what is involved behind it is the reconstruction of the on-chain channel and settlement structure of real stock assets, that is, real stock custody, and funds flow into U.S. stocks through compliant brokerages.

Objectively speaking, although the tokenization of U.S. stocks under this model still faces many challenges in terms of compliance paths and cross-border operations, it can be regarded as a brand new on-chain investment window for users:

There is no need to open an account, identity verification, or geographical restrictions. All you need is a crypto wallet and a stablecoin to bypass the cumbersome processes of traditional brokerages and trade U.S. stock tokens directly on DEX, achieving 24/7 trading, second-level settlement, and global borderless access. This experience is difficult for global investors, especially non-U.S. residents, to achieve in the traditional securities system.

The establishment of this logic relies on the ability of blockchain as a "clearing and settlement + asset confirmation" infrastructure, and also reflects the huge leap of Tokenization from technical attempts to actual user use.

Furthermore, if we look at it from a more macro perspective, "tokenization of U.S. stocks" is just a subset of the RWA (real-world asset) tokenization process. It reflects the continuous evolution of the asset chain narrative from token issuance to synthetic assets and then to RWA anchoring since the rise of the tokenization concept in 2017.

02. The past and present of Tokenization

Looking back at the development of Tokenization, it is not difficult to find that it runs through the core theme of almost every round of infrastructure innovation and narrative evolution in the crypto world.

It can be said that from the "token issuance boom" in 2017 to the "DeFi Summer" in 2020, and then to the "RWA narrative" in recent years and the latest "tokenization of US stocks", we can basically sort out a relatively clear evolution path of on-chain assets.

Among them, the earliest large-scale practice of Tokenization began with the token issuance boom in 2017. At that time, the concept of "tokens are equity" ignited the financing imagination of countless entrepreneurial projects, and Ethereum provided them with low-threshold issuance and fundraising tools, making Token a digital certificate representing future rights (equity, usage rights, governance rights).

However, in the absence of a clear regulatory framework, a lack of value capture mechanism, and serious information asymmetry, a large number of projects have become air coin bubbles and eventually died down as the bull market receded.

Now in 2020, the outbreak of DeFi marks the second climax of Tokenization applications.

A series of on-chain native financial protocols represented by Aave, MakerDAO, and Compound, with the help of on-chain native assets such as ETH, have built a complete permissionless, censorship-resistant financial system, allowing users to complete complex financial operations such as lending, staking, trading, and leverage on the chain.

Tokens at this stage are no longer financing certificates, but have evolved into core asset categories of on-chain financial instruments, such as wrapped assets (WBTC), synthetic assets (sUSD) and interest-bearing assets (stETH). Even MakerDAO has begun to accept real-world assets such as real estate as collateral to achieve a better integration of traditional finance and DeFi.

The restart of Tokenization took this as a watershed and began to try to introduce more stable and larger real-world assets.

Therefore, the narrative has been further upgraded since 2021, and protocols such as MakerDAO have begun to try to access real-world assets (RWA) such as real estate, government bonds, and gold as underlying collateral. The definition of Tokenization has also expanded from "tokenized native assets" to "tokenized off-chain assets."

Different from the abstract assets anchored by codes in the past, RWA represents the confirmation, splitting and circulation of real assets anchored by physical assets or legal rights on the chain. Because their value is relatively stable, their valuation standards are clear, and they have mature experience in compliance supervision, they also bring more realistic "value anchors" to on-chain finance.

According to the latest data from the RWA research platform rwa.xyz, the current total RWA market size exceeds US$25 billion, and BlackRock's forecast is more optimistic. By 2030, the market value of tokenized assets is expected to reach US$10 trillion, which means that the potential growth space in the next seven years may be as high as more than 40 times.

So, which real-world assets will be tokenized first and become the on-chain financial anchor of RWA?

03. Who will be the bridgehead of Tokenization?

It is no exaggeration to say that the most successful tokenization product in the past five years is neither gold nor stocks, but stablecoins.

It is the first tokenized asset that has truly found the "product-market fit (PMF)": mapping cash, the most basic and liquid asset, into the on-chain world and building the first "value bridge" connecting TradFi and DeFi.

Its operating logic is also very representative. Banks or custodians hold real assets (such as US dollars or short-term government bonds) off-chain, and equivalent tokens (such as USDT, USDC) are issued on-chain. Users can hold, pay, trade or interact with DeFi protocols through encrypted wallets.

This not only inherits the stability of legal currency, but also fully unleashes the advantages of blockchain: efficient settlement, low-cost transfer, 7×24 all-weather trading capabilities, and seamless integration with smart contracts.

As of now, the total market value of global stablecoins has exceeded US$250 billion, which shows that the real implementation of Tokenization depends on whether it solves the problems of asset circulation and transaction efficiency in reality, rather than relying solely on technological innovation itself.

Today, the tokenization of U.S. stocks seems to be becoming the next destination for tokenized assets.

And unlike previous synthetic asset models that relied on oracles and algorithms, today's "real stock token" solutions are getting closer and closer to real financial infrastructure, and are gradually exploring the standard path of "real stock custody + on-chain mapping + decentralized trading".

A noteworthy trend is that mainstream players, including Robinhood, are announcing the launch of native chains or self-developed chains, and supporting real stock trading functions on the chain. From the information disclosed so far, most of the underlying technical partners of these tokenization paths are still based on the Ethereum ecosystem (such as Arbitrum, etc.), which undoubtedly once again confirms Ethereum’s core position as the Tokenization infrastructure.

The reason is that Ethereum not only has a mature smart contract system, a large developer community and rich asset compatibility standards, but more importantly, its neutrality, openness and composability provide the most scalable soil for financial asset mapping.

In general, if the previous rounds of tokenization were crypto-financial experiments driven by Web3 native projects, then this time, it is more like a professional reconstruction led by TradFi - coming with real assets, real regulatory compliance needs and global market demands.

Will this be the real beginning of Tokenization?