In today’s newsletter, Nick Ducoff, head of institutional growth at the Solana Foundation, draws a parallel between tokenization’s ability to democratize investment access and how the Internet eased access to banking over fifteen years ago.
Then, in Ask an Expert, the CoinDesk Research Team answers questions about stablecoin and tokenization trends from their February 2026 Stablecoins & Tokenization Assets Report. Read the full report here.
– Sarah Morton
Internet capital markets: from the “unbrokered” to the universally invested
Fifteen years ago, over 60 million Americans were “unbanked,” shut out of basic financial services because traditional banks found them unprofitable. Then Chime, Revolut and other fintech pioneers brought banking to smartphones, removing legacy barriers like minimum balances and penalty fees. Today we face an even greater problem of exclusion: billions of people are effectively “non-brokers”, without access to capital markets and investment opportunities to build generational wealth.
Enter the capital markets of the Internet: global, always-on infrastructure where assets are born digital, traded on mobile first and accessible to anyone with a smartphone 24/7. With blockchain technology, Internet Capital Markets is poised to do for investing what fintech did for banking. And the opportunity is huge.
Extent of Economic Exclusion
The “non-brokers” comprise two distinct but overlapping populations: those who lack brokerage accounts altogether, and international investors who cannot effectively access high-quality US dollar assets. Consider Pakistan, where according to Bilal Bin Saqib, chairman of the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) and CEO of the Pakistan Crypto Council, only 300,000 people have brokerage accounts, while 40 million have cryptocurrency wallets. The infrastructure exists, but financial products remain largely inaccessible.
Even when accessing US markets through local brokers, international investors often pay significant premiums, not to mention the hefty minimum requirements and investor accreditation required by the private markets. These are not products available to the global middle class – they are built to serve the already wealthy.
Tokenization expands the playing field
Blockchain tokenization transforms this dynamic by enabling fractional ownership, eliminating intermediary costs and operating 24/7 with instant settlement. The result: dramatically lower minimum requirements and global availability. Consider Hamilton Lane, a leading alternative asset manager. Through Republic Crypto, investors can now access Hamilton Lane private market exposure for as little as $500. That’s a thousand-fold reduction in the barrier to entry compared to traditional private fund minimums, and a signal of how Internet-based market infrastructure can finally make fractional access more accessible.
The recent BitGo IPO also shows the democratizing potential of tokenization. When BitGo went public on the New York Stock Exchange, tokenized representation of BitGo shares could be simultaneously traded on Solana, allowing anyone globally with a Solana wallet to buy BitGo shares instantly. This evolution towards real-time global accessibility is now being validated by the world’s largest asset managers: BlackRock and Franklin Templeton have launched tokenized money market funds on public blockchains, enabling 24/7 liquidity and transparency.
Why this infrastructure matters
Tokenization expands access rather than competing with traditional markets. The blockchain works continuously, allowing investors in Jakarta, São Paulo or Lagos to buy assets the moment they become available, not when their local markets open. Settlement is instant against stablecoins, eliminating multi-day clearing processes and currency conversion fees that hinder retail investors outside the US
Speed and cost matter. High-performance blockchains like Solana, along with Layer 2 scaling solutions on Ethereum, can process thousands of transactions per second for fractions of a penny, making the economics of fractional ownership actually work. This is the foundation of “universal basic ownership”, where anyone with a phone can now have a stake in the growth of the global economy, even across asset classes like pre-listed stocks and private credit, once strictly closed to institutions and the ultra-wealthy.
The advisor’s edge: strategy and accessibility
For financial advisors, this transition represents a strategic exposure play. Access is now streamlined through regulated vehicles such as spot Solana ETFs (eg SOEZ, QSOL, BSOL) and European ETPs along with user-friendly digital custody tools such as Phantom or Ledger wallets. Now advisors can use subcent transaction costs to offer sophisticated, fractional portfolios to a much broader client base. This infrastructure lowers the “cost to operate,” making institutional-quality diversification available to middle-class “mom and pop” investors through their financial advisors.
From unbrokered to universally invested
The fintech wave of the 2010s proved that financial exclusion is a design problem. Tokenization represents the next chapter in this story. A software developer in South Korea should not face obstacles to investing in US stocks or accessing private credit returns. A small business owner in Argentina should not pay high prices for the same stocks that are available cheaply to American investors. Sophisticated investment strategies should not remain exclusively in wealth management channels that serve the top 1%.
The technology rails have been built and regulatory pathways are becoming clearer. What remains is to scale this infrastructure and ensure it serves its highest purpose, which is to expand wealth-building opportunities for the billions currently locked out. While the job of banking the unbanked is far from done, it offers a blueprint for what we’re about to see: transforming the unbrokered into the universally invested.
– Nick Ducoff, Head of Institutional Growth, Solana Foundation
Ask an expert
Q: What are stablecoins and why are they important?
Stablecoins are a type of digital currency designed to maintain a stable value. This is usually achieved by “pegging” the stablecoin to a traditional asset, such as the US dollar. Unlike other cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin or ether, which can experience large price fluctuations, stablecoins are designed to allow users to hold or trade digital assets without exposure to price fluctuations. Other use cases for stablecoins include serving as primary trading pairs, cross-border payments, decentralized finance (DeFi) lending and borrowing, and inflation hedging. The GENIUS Act (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act), enacted in July 2025, creates a comprehensive federal regulatory framework for US dollar-backed payment stablecoins.
Q: What is the current stablecoin landscape?
After rising for twenty-five consecutive months, growth in the total stablecoin market cap has slowed over the past four months, although it continues to hover near its all-time high of $310 billion. CoinDesk’s latest research report indicates that as digital asset prices generally trend lower, the market dominance of stablecoins has increased. In February, Stablecoin market dominance rose to 13.3% (up from 11.2% in January), driven by the decline in price impact of digital assets. Tether’s USDT continues to lead the sector with a market share of 59.1%, while Circle’s USDC is in second place with 24.6%.
Q: What is the current traction for tokenized assets and how fast is the real-world tokenized asset market growing?
Real-world tokenized assets continue to make significant inroads into global financial markets, with the total tokenized market capitalization reaching a new record high of $23.4 billion by the end of February. This represents a 22.9% month-on-month increase from $19 billion in January, underscoring the accelerating pace of adoption across multiple asset classes. Much of this growth has been driven by tokenized government bonds, which expanded 15.1% to $10.5 billion and now account for about 45% of the entire tokenized market. Meanwhile, tokenized commodities have emerged as a key secondary growth engine, rising 27% to $6.6 billion and representing 28.4% of the market. Other segments are also developing steadily. The stocks and ETF sector reached $804.7 million at the end of February, marking a 3.1% monthly increase and maintaining a 3.4% share of the total tokenized ecosystem.
– Jacob Joseph, Research Specialist, CoinDesk
