A revolution is brewing in finance, promising to shatter the old walls of Wall Street and bring assets like stocks, bonds, and even skyscrapers onto the blockchain. It’s called tokenization, and it could fundamentally change how we own, trade, and think about value. To understand what this means for the average person, we broke down the concept and spoke with Ken DiCross, co-founder of the blockchain interoperability platform Wire Network, about the future of a tokenized world.
1. What Is Tokenization, Really?
Tokenization is taking a real world asset, like a share of Tesla stock, and turning it into a digital token that lives on a blockchain.
What’s a blockchain? Think of it as a super secure, shared digital ledger that can’t be easily tampered with. It’s the same technology that powers cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
By putting a stock into this secure digital wrapper, it can move faster, more freely, and with fewer middlemen across the internet. As Ken DiCross puts it, the goal is simple: “It’s really bringing all assets in this world on chain, which is exactly where they should be.”
Is this like buying Tesla stock as a crypto coin? Or something else entirely?
It’s not a meme coin. You’re not buying a lookalike or fan-made token. You’re buying a digital representation of an actual share, backed 1:1 by the real thing. It should legally entitle you to the same benefits, like dividends, though this depends on how it’s issued and regulated.
What’s the difference between owning a tokenized stock and a regular share through, say, Robinhood?
On Robinhood, your stocks are locked into their system. A tokenized stock, however, is portable. You could hold it in a personal digital wallet, trade it globally 24/7, or even use it in new types of apps, like DeFi (Decentralized Finance) lending platforms. It’s like owning digital cash instead of store credit locked to one specific store.
2. Why Does This Matter?
What problem is tokenization solving that the current stock market doesn’t?
The current system is slow, fragmented, and limited by gatekeepers. Stock trades can take days to settle, and you’re restricted by geography and banking hours. Tokenization breaks those limits, creating what DiCross describes as a seismic shift in possibilities.
“It’s like playing Super Mario back in the 90s, where you could only go one direction,” DiCross explains. “And then they come out, and they go, like, Mario’s now open world. Like, do whatever you want. It’s literally, like, that big of a shift.”
Is this about access, speed, cost, or control?
All of the above. The ultimate goal is to unlock assets for everyone. For DiCross, tokenization can reveal the true market value of an asset by massively expanding who can own it.
“I’ll pose that we may not know the actual true value of a skyscraper in Manhattan right now, just because there are still limitations,” he says. “If the more that you can give access and fractionalize… to where a farmer in Iowa can own a portion of it, I guarantee that’s going to drive value and prices higher.”
3. Real-World Use Cases
Where is tokenization actually being used today? Can someone go buy Apple stock on-chain right now?
Yes, but it’s complicated. Some offshore platforms already offer tokenized versions of major stocks, but these are largely unavailable to U.S. investors due to strict regulations. The real action is happening behind the scenes, where financial giants like JPMorgan and Franklin Templeton are already using their own private blockchains to tokenize assets like money market funds and bonds, proving the technology works at scale.
How close are we to people trading tokenized stocks in the same way they buy Bitcoin or NFTs?
Closer than most people realize. The technology is ready, but regulation is the bottleneck. If regulators like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) create clear rules for tokenized securities, adoption could be rapid. Think 1–3 years for early use at scale, and 5+ years for it to become mainstream.
4. Risks, Not Just Rewards
What are the biggest risks with tokenized stocks?
Regulatory uncertainty is the biggest hurdle. If regulators deem a platform illegal, investors could lose access to their assets. There are also technology risks. As DiCross notes, “This is code that is being used instead of, you know, writing down, like the deed of who owns what.” While he believes this digital risk is preferable to the analog world’s risk of losing a physical document, it’s still a risk.
How do you prevent fraud or manipulation on a blockchain?
A blockchain’s transparency helps by showing every transaction publicly. But you still need human and legal layers: verified custodians who actually hold the underlying stock, proper audits, and regulatory oversight. Blockchain doesn’t eliminate the need for trust; it just shifts the architecture.
5. The Big Picture and the Future
Some people say tokenization will ‘eat Wall Street.’ Is that real, or just marketing?
It’s a little of both. Tokenization won’t replace Wall Street, but it will force it to modernize. DiCross believes the big firms will adapt by launching their own blockchains and tokenized products.
“You may not have the same slice of the pie. It may be smaller… It means that you have a smaller slice of something that’s even bigger now,” he predicts.
What does the stock market look like in five years if tokenization goes mainstream?
Imagine buying a stock 24/7 from your phone, anywhere in the world. Settlement is instant. Fees are near zero. You can use your assets across different apps to trade, lend, or borrow without waiting days or dealing with paperwork. That’s the vision. For DiCross, it will be a world of countless blockchains, all needing to speak the same language, a problem his company aims to solve.
“I hope there’s, I’m like, a billion chains,” he says. “We just know that it needs to be standardized, that whatever chain you’re on is able to seamlessly talk to the chain that everyone else is on.”
The future isn’t one chain to rule them all. It’s a fragmented world of digital assets, stitched together by infrastructure most people never see.
Tokenization may not eat Wall Street. But it’s definitely sitting down at the same table.
