IMF finds demand for tokenized stocks, says the market is still volatile, illiquid

“Moving assets onchain is only the first step," said Bitget CEO Gracy Chen. "The bigger question is how efficiently that capital can work once it is there.”

The IMF’s message is that while the use case is real, the market is still nascent. It said the tokenized real-world asset (RWA) market has grown rapidly, estimating it at about $65 billion as of July 31. Tokenized equities accounted for roughly $2.3 billion of the total. That compares with a 2025 global equity market capitalization of just under $160 trillion, according to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), the trade group for the U.S. securities industry.

Still, the tokenization project is growing. Bullish (BLSH), a Gibraltar-based crypto company and CoinDesk’s parent company, introduced tokenized equity trading in August. Earlier this month, OKX and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which owns and operates the New York Stock Exchange, filed plans for a venue offering round-the-clock trading in tokenized U.S. shares.

They are not alone. Crypto exchanges Coinbase Global (COIN), Kraken and Binance also offer tokenized stock trading, as does Robinhood Markets (HOOD).

According to the IMF, tokenized stocks were about 1.5 times as volatile as the equivalent shares on traditional venues and significantly less liquid.