CZ's New Pitch to Nations: Tokenize the Stonks, Print the Stablecoin 🪙

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao is urging governments to tokenize their stock markets and issue sovereign stablecoins, arguing the moves can attract global buyers and extend local currency reach on blockchain rails. Zhao said he has been meeting with country leaders and regulators across Asia to advance the proposal, posting the recommendations on June 17, 2026 after describing the talks as "making good progress" without naming the countries involved. "Countries need to tokenize their stocks, allowing worldwide buyers. (RWA) Countries need to issue their own stablecoin(s), to expand their currency's usage on the blockchain," Zhao wrote on X.

The push centers on real-world asset tokenization, which converts company shares into blockchain tokens that can trade around the clock. No country has yet tokenized its full stock exchange, though the U.S., U.K., Singapore and others are exploring formal plans. The wider tokenized RWA market on public blockchains topped $32 billion by mid-2026, up from about $6 billion a year earlier, according to RWA.xyz data, while Boston Consulting Group projects tokenization could reach $16 trillion by 2030. Binance has said the trend could attract 300 million new users and more than $2 trillion in capital flows via crypto super-apps over the next five years. Bitget CEO Gracy Chen echoed the call, writing, "Exactly this. The first crypto wave was about banking the unbanked. The next is about brokering the unbrokered. The countries who move first will define where global capital lives next."

On stablecoins, Zhao is advocating for fiat-backed national tokens as a counterweight to dollar-pegged dominance. Dollar-pegged tokens make up close to 99% of the roughly $315 billion stablecoin market, led by Tether ($USDT) and USD Coin ($USDC), according to DefiLlama figures. Binance co-CEO Richard Teng said 36% of emerging-market users on the platform now keep at least half their money in stablecoins, noting, "Stablecoins are changing everyday life in many countries. In emerging markets, 36% of Binance users now keep at least half their money in stablecoins. Why? Because they make life easier."

Zhao's advisory footprint is already visible in several jurisdictions. He serves as a strategic adviser to the Pakistan Crypto Council and is advising Kyrgyzstan on crypto as it builds a gold-backed stablecoin, while Binance has secured approval to develop a crypto marketplace in Kazakhstan. The broader rollout, however, faces regulatory friction: the exchange's attempt to secure a European Union Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) license via Greece was reportedly blocked by the European Central Bank ahead of the July MiCA deadline, potentially pushing Binance users in the bloc to migrate to platforms including Kraken. Teng said the exchange remains "dedicated to securing the MiCA license."