Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN) Chief Executive Brian Armstrong says tokenized stocks could fundamentally reshape global investing, pointing to a key metric to support his view.
Tokenized Stocks Aim to Unlock Global Equity Access
“There’s actually about four billion people in the world today who are unbrokered,” Armstrong said in an episode of Sourcery with Molly O’Shea that aired on Saturday. “Half the planet basically can’t get access to any high-quality U.S. companies to invest in. They’re stuck holding cash and lower-quality investments.”
“That’s going to totally change the world,” Armstrong said of the shift to tokenized equities on modern financial rails.
Unlike prior tokenized-equity products, which Armstrong described as “a derivative or a synthetic” that don’t convey true ownership, Coinbase’s offering is backed one-to-one by the underlying stock. “That’s what was powerful about stablecoins,” Armstrong said, drawing a direct parallel to USDC (CRYPTO: USDC), saying the same trust model is now being applied to equities to expand access to global markets.
