Bitwise calls ETH, SOL, XRP, LINK the ‘cleanest’ plays as tokenization narrative builds
Following the recent wave of tokenization developments from Robinhood to xStocks, analysts at Bitwise said the narrative could begin to impact the prices of related cryptocurrencies, such as ETH, SOL, XRP, and LINK, sooner rather than later.Tokenization — the shift to issuing stocks, bonds, and other real-world assets on blockchains instead of traditional rails — is "having a moment," Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan and Head of Research Ryan Rasmussen wrote in a note to clients late Tuesday. In the past month alone, Robinhood and Kraken launched tokenized stock trading for non-U.S. users, Coinbase filed with the SEC to bring it stateside, and Wall Street firms poured $135 million into the new Canton Network blockchain built for stock and bond trading.Meanwhile, SEC Chair Paul Atkins called tokenization a key "innovation," Latin America's largest exchange, Mercado Bitcoin, unveiled plans to tokenize $200 million on the XRP Ledger, Galaxy warned it could disrupt NYSE revenues, and the total value of tokenized real-world assets hit a record high of around $25 billion, the pair noted. The narrative is quickly moving from concept to reality."I’ve always been of two minds about tokenization," Hougan said. "On the one hand, it feels inevitable. The fact that stocks only trade from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on weekdays is absurd. But despite the sense of inevitability, I've often thought that we're too early. Just ask anyone who witnessed how long it took to shift from floor-based stock trading to electronic stock trading."Why tokenization's impact on crypto prices may start nowHowever, amid these latest developments, that could be about to change, in Hougan's view. "The primary reason is that the market for tokenization is enormous," he said, highlighting that BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, "arguably the most important person in asset management," wrote in his annual shareholder letter this year: "Every stock, every bond, every fund—every asset—can be tokenized."Stocks and bonds represent a $257 trillion market, dwarfing even the most ambitious projections for stablecoins, which some, including U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, expect to grow from $250 billion to $2 trillion by 2030. Even modest tokenization adoption — just 1% to 5% of the stocks and bonds market — would unlock trillions, far outpacing any other crypto use case — including bitcoin — Hougan noted.While full-scale onchain stock and bond trading may still take a decade, in Bitwise's view, moves by major firms like Robinhood and Tradeweb suggest momentum is building now. "The narrative around tokenization is only going to accelerate from here — if Robinhood is rolling out tokenized trading, you can bet that Charles Schwab and others are studying it aggressively," Hougan said. "I'd expect a wave of additional announcements this Fall."The 'cleanest' tokenization investment tradeA basket of the top Layer 1 blockchains and infrastructure plays like Ethereum, Solana, XRP, and Chainlink are the "cleanest" way to invest, Hougan and Rasmussen argued.While Ethereum leads in tokenization today, the field is wide open, with many players vying for a share — so concentrating bets on a single winner seems overly specific, they said. "It would be unfortunate to call the tokenization trend early only to bet on the wrong horse." A supplementary approach could also pair core blockchain exposure with a basket of stocks likely to benefit from the trend, like Robinhood, Coinbase, and Circle, they added."If Larry Fink is right, the tokenization market could grow over 4,000x in the coming years. There aren't many markets that can say that," the Bitwise analysts said.Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.© 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.