The disruptive force of tokenization can’t be stopped by opposition from traditional finance players, such as banks, according to MoonPay President Keith Grossman.
In a recent statement, the executive warned,
“You cannot freeze progress to protect legacy economics. Innovation does not seek permission. It forces adaptation.”
Tokenization, or the on-chain representation of real-world assets such as property, stocks, and credit, is considered efficient for settlement and reduced costs.
Additionally, it’s globally scalable, and the U.S. regulators are pushing for the entire capital markets to move on-chain.
Tokenization is ‘inevitable’
However, some aspects of the tokenization overhaul have been criticized and opposed by some incumbents.
For example, in August, the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE), umbrella body for traditional stock exchanges, criticized “unregulated tokenized equities” and warned that these products could undermine market integrity.
Similarly, Citadel Securities pushed for DeFi regulation before the sector is allowed to handle tokenized markets. Crypto supporters viewed this as a declaration of war ahead of the tokenization boom.
Despite these hiccups from tradFi players, Grossman noted that the trend is “inevitable,” drawing parallels between media and digitization.
“While the media industry did not disappear, nearly two decades later, it is drastically transformed. Distribution, monetization, and power dynamics have all changed.”
Grossman added that finance will also be transformed, and those who embrace tokenization will be the winners.
“Tokenization will be just as disruptive to finance as digitization was to media; and likely faster.”
Eli Ben-Sasson, founder of Starknet and Zcash, echoed similar sentiments and noted,
“tl;dr: crypto will eat tradfi infra. And leave no crumb.”
Tokenized assets eye $1 trillion
The tokenized markets have surpassed $700 billion and are expected to reach $1 trillion, including the stablecoin segment, which has a $300 billion supply.
Credits or loans have also seen significant on-chain traction, from repurchase agreements (repos) to U.S. Treasury debt.
Tokenized equities have also experienced significant momentum in 2025, posting double-digit growth over the past 30 days, despite the broader crypto market’s lull.
Top issuers include Ondo Finance, Backed Finance (xStocks), and Securitize.
On the settlement layer for on-chain stocks, Ethereum ranked first with $335 million, followed by Solana at $164 million. Algorand and BNB Chain ranked third and fourth, respectively.
For Grayscale, the broader tokenized markets could expand by 1000x by 2030, with ETH, BNB, SOL, and Chainlink [LINK] expected to be key beneficiaries.
Final Thoughts
- Per an executive at MoonPay, tokenization will be ‘inevitable’ despite current opposition.
- Tokenized assets could expand by 1,000 times by 2030, according to Grayscale.
