Tokenization of Stocks: New Challenges and Opportunities in Web3 Finance

Recently, the tokenization of US stocks has become the focus of the market, sparking widespread discussion. This trend is not just a simple token issuance, but a comprehensive stress test of the on-chain financial system. It will examine whether the Web3 world can truly support the issuance, trading, pricing, and redemption of mainstream financial assets throughout the entire process.

From History to Present: The Evolution of Stock Tokenization

Stock tokenization is not a new concept. As early as 2019, some trading platforms attempted to tokenize U.S. stocks but were unable to continue due to regulatory reasons. Today, the compliance path led by licensed institutions such as Robinhood marks a new stage in this field.

Taking a well-known trading platform as an example, its stock tokenization service launched in Europe adopts a "broker self-operated + on-chain issuance" closed-loop model. The platform has obtained a license in the EU, purchases actual stocks, and issues tokens that are 1:1 mapped on-chain. This model covers the entire process from custody, issuance to clearing and settlement, providing users with a trading experience close to that of traditional securities accounts.

Market Resonance: Multiple Factors Driving

The rise of stock tokenization is the result of the combined effect of several key factors:

1. Improved regulatory environment: The implementation of the European MiCA legislation and the softening of the regulatory attitude in the United States have created favorable conditions for the development of the industry.

2. Strengthening Compliance Foundation: Key participants have established a solid compliance foundation by obtaining licenses in different jurisdictions.

3. On-chain funding demand: Capital in the crypto market is seeking new investment opportunities supported by real value.

4. Traditional finance actively participates: From large asset management companies to banks, traditional financial institutions are deeply involved in the application and infrastructure development of blockchain technology.

Impact on the Crypto Ecosystem

Stock tokenization is both an opportunity and a challenge for the cryptocurrency ecosystem:

Potential Advantages:

1. Provide high-quality assets: Offers a new, relatively stable investment option for on-chain funds.

2. Improve Project Quality: It may prompt crypto-native projects to enhance their quality in response to more intense competition.

3. Enhanced convenience: Allows crypto users to directly participate in stock trading, reducing the flow of funds between different markets.

Potential Risks:

1. Increased competition: May compete with native crypto projects for user attention and funding.

2. Increased difficulty in financing: The entry of traditional stocks may change investors' value judgment standards, making it more challenging for crypto projects to secure funding.

Future Outlook

Stock tokenization represents an important step in the migration of traditional assets to blockchain and reflects the beginning of the traditional financial system adopting on-chain methods to organize part of the trading and custody processes. This trend could become a significant infrastructure development direction in the Web3 world.

However, the development in this field is unlikely to present explosive growth; it is more likely to be a slow but steady evolutionary process. This will prompt us to rethink whether Web3 can truly become a system that carries mainstream assets and trading activities, and whether it can establish a securities trading system that is more transparent and efficient than traditional markets.