Grayscale Research just published a framework for thinking about tokenized equities, and the report, authored by Head of Research Zach Pandl, identifies three distinct models for putting stocks on blockchains: wrapper, entitlement, and issuer-native.
Tokenized assets currently sit at roughly $30 billion, which is about 0.01% of global equity and bond markets. That rounding error grew 217% year-over-year, driven primarily by US Treasuries, and Grayscale projects the space could balloon to around $30 trillion by 2030. That’s a 1,000x leap.
Three models, three different philosophies
The wrapper model is the current market leader, accounting for over 70% of tokenized stock market capitalization today. The underlying equity still exists in conventional markets, but a tokenized version trades on public blockchains like Ethereum, Solana, and BNB Chain.
The entitlement model involves legacy financial infrastructure meeting blockchain halfway. The DTCC, which settles virtually every stock trade in the US, has been piloting this concept on the Canton Network, experimenting with using blockchain to make post-trade processes faster, cheaper, and more transparent while keeping regulated securities within established frameworks.
