Web3 Legal Analysis: Where Is the Future of Tokenization in the US Stock Market?

Author: Crypto Salad

The powerful storytelling ability of SpaceX is evident to anyone paying attention to Musk’s Starlink and Mars colonization stories. Many friends who previously had no interest in the US stock market have privately messaged Crypto Salad, asking how to get involved in US stocks. For us Chinese residents, direct entry is quite challenging. As a result, many have rekindled interest in “tokenized US stocks.” Crypto Salad does not provide any investment advice or recommendations here; as always, we break down the underlying logic of US stock tokenization thoroughly. The rest is up to your own judgment.

In our previous article, “Global Listing, 24-Hour Stock Trading? Analyzing the NYSE’s On-Chain ‘Conspiracy,’” we detailed what kind of US stock tokenization platform the NYSE aims to build, analyzing its core logic. If last year, US stock tokenization was mainly exploratory within Web3, then the 2026 launches of tokenized stocks by Nasdaq and NYSE mark the end of this insider “self-congratulation.” The Berlin Wall between US stocks and crypto assets has actually fallen.

We have already dissected the technical elements of the NYSE platform, including 24/7 trading, fractional shares, real-time settlement based on stablecoins, and native digital securities issuance. This article will not repeat those details but instead address two deeper questions: Why did the NYSE choose this moment to launch? Where is the future of US stock tokenization?

1. “Why now?”

To understand “why now,” we must first grasp where the real constraints in the securities market lie. The reason traditional markets maintain fixed trading hours for so long isn’t because the matching system can’t operate continuously, but because clearing, settlement, and margin management are highly dependent on bank business hours. When banks are closed, capital flows and risk control face gaps, naturally limiting trading times. The NYSE’s proposal to use on-chain settlement and tokenized capital tools to cover the non-business hours’ funding gap is essentially reshaping the market’s time structure.

Backed by parent company ICE, the NYSE is collaborating with firms like BNY Mellon and Citibank to promote tokenized deposit arrangements, enabling clearing members to transfer funds and meet margin obligations outside bank operating hours. This is a crucial step—systemic risk in 24-hour trading isn’t in the matching itself but in whether margin and liquidity can sustain continuous operation. When “money” itself is tokenized, 24/7 trading becomes practically feasible.

So, why focus on time? In traditional finance, weekends, holidays, and late nights are liquidity gaps. Even with dark pools, time restrictions and dispersed participants prevent true price discovery. Many US stock tokenization platforms also cannot truly operate 24/7.

But in 2026, this “financial vacuum” is being violently filled by the market for tokenized contracts. Today’s capital markets reveal risk preferences in real time, even by the minute. For example, the world’s largest decentralized prediction market, Polymarket, recently saw over $529 million in trading volume on contracts related to “US military strikes on Iran.” While ordinary investors are still searching for news and confirming “Iran,” “casualties,” and headlines, real money has already been priced into risk via the odds in the prediction market. Meanwhile, BTC, as a 24-hour liquid risk asset, also reflects geopolitical tensions, changing almost every second.

This may be one reason the NYSE feels compelled to “shake things up”—if US stocks continue to rely on the traditional 9-to-5 clearing system, they will lose their “initial pricing” advantage on core global assets.

But viewing this solely as a post-trade upgrade underestimates its significance. Once funds start settling on-chain, the ecosystem of financial institutions will be redistributed. Traditionally, banks deposit funds to earn interest, brokers earn trading fees, and issuers tell stories to attract capital. Funds flow sequentially among different institutions, each with its own profit logic. When stablecoins become tools for settlement and margin, and trading, clearing, and fund management can be done on the same technical layer, the value chain dispersed across institutions may compress into fewer nodes. On-chain platforms can not only earn trading fees but also participate in fund management and liquidity organization. Of course, this doesn’t mean banks will disappear, but it does mean funds no longer have to be deposited within the traditional banking system. To put it more intuitively: in the past, you had to deposit money in a bank before transferring it to a broker to trade; in the future, your wallet could be your account, and settlement could be completed instantly. Shortening the fund flow path is itself a structural shock.

For this reason, the NYSE did not choose to operate outside the regulatory framework but deliberately integrated tokenization into the existing market structure. The platform emphasizes non-discriminatory access, limited to qualified broker-dealers. Tokenization does not alter the legal nature of securities; holders still enjoy full dividend and governance rights. The on-chain form of assets does not change their legal essence. This restraint is key: the NYSE isn’t aiming to create a “wild token market,” but to embed on-chain forms within the most rigorous securities regulatory logic. Truly resilient innovation is never the most radical but the one that can withstand compliance and infrastructure testing.

2. Where is the future of US stock tokenization?

Major Web3 exchanges are inherently sensitive and quick to respond. While mainstream media are still analyzing SpaceX’s value, platforms like MEXC have already opened SpaceX’s pre-IPO market. Other exchanges are taking action too—Robinhood has launched Robinhood Ventures, allowing everyone to invest in private tech companies before they go public. According to Kraken, their tokenized stock perpetual contracts (xStocks), launched last year, have already traded over $25 billion within less than a year.

But exchanges may not be the only future traffic entry points. As Binance, Bitget, OKX, and various Web3 wallets support on-chain assets trading, wallets are becoming new gateways for liquidity. Wallets are no longer just for holding tokens but are aggregating trading, DeFi, staking, and investment interfaces. When assets can flow directly on-chain, the traditional “deposit into an exchange and then trade” path is also shortening. Who profits from DeFi? It’s the efficiency of capital flow and market-making, redistributing value from traditional intermediaries. When the NYSE launches a tokenization platform, it’s also responding to this reality: if mainstream exchanges don’t actively adopt on-chain forms, on-chain liquidity will form self-sustaining cycles elsewhere.

Deeper competition also occurs between stablecoins and sovereign digital currencies. After over a year studying RWA (Real-World Assets), we believe the most successful RWA today are stablecoins, but the explosive growth of RWA is in listed company stocks. In the future, more real-world assets will be tokenized. The US has made it clear that the central bank will not directly issue stablecoins but will allow market entities to participate; China explicitly states only the state can issue digital yuan. Whether stablecoins can generate interest or resemble bank deposits is a matter of currency ecosystem competition. When stablecoins become settlement tools, they are not just payment media but closer to “digital fiat.” If the NYSE platform uses stablecoins as settlement basis, it will inevitably participate in this broader institutional contest.

3. Conclusion

If 2025 is the year of application and testing for US stock tokenization, 2026 may be the year of institutional bifurcation. As post-trading systems loosen, funds become tokenized, and wallets become new liquidity portals, the time and capital structures of securities markets are quietly being rewritten. This isn’t just “stocks on-chain,” but a hierarchical shift in market infrastructure. In this process, whoever can master the synergy of trading, settlement, and capital will be closer to the future market form.