Tokenized Stocks Hit $2.91B While Wall Street Argues Who Owns the Receipt 🧾

Wall Street's push to move equities onto blockchain rails accelerated this week, with Nasdaq agreeing to invest $100 million in Kraken parent Payward to build tokenized-stock infrastructure and London Stock Exchange Group partnering with Payward on tokenized UK shares and a planned 24-hour trading venue. The deals follow a social-media clash between AMC CEO Adam Aron and Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev over Robinhood's offer of tokenized exposure to AMC shares without the company's approval, a dispute that underscored how unsettled the rules remain once stocks sit onchain.

The practical questions of liquidity, confidentiality and compliance took center stage at "The New Financial Stack," a panel moderated by BeInCrypto at the Onchain Leaders Gathering in Geneva on September 8. Florent Gabriel of Blobb.io, Jonathan Mathai of G-20 Group, Antoine Hello of Zama and François Meurier of Rex Exchange discussed the barriers institutions still face. "True enterprise adoption happens when we move beyond isolated proofs-of-concept," said Antoine Hello, Director of Financial Institutions at Zama, which develops confidential blockchain infrastructure for financial institutions. François Meurier, Founder and Managing Director of Geneva-based regulated crypto exchange and OTC service Rex Change, framed the operational test more directly: "Not in theory but how it works in practice. We do this every day."

The market behind those questions is no longer theoretical. RWA.xyz tracked $2.91 billion in distributed tokenized stocks and $13.31 billion in monthly transfer volume as of September 10, with more than 3.17 million addresses holding such assets. Growth has been uneven, with holder counts up 174% over 30 days while monthly transfer volume fell almost 53%, a gap that complicates institutional expectations of deep, reliable markets.

The AMC episode illustrated a separate structural issue. Tokenized AMC products track the stock's price, but holders do not own AMC shares or receive normal shareholder rights. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev has defended the structure, arguing that companies cannot control every third-party financial product referencing their shares. The exchange still trades on traditional rails, even as replicas of it circulate onchain.