CZ: Why Tokenization Will Open U.S. Markets To The Rest Of The World

CZ’s central case is that tokenized U.S. equities could let people outside the United States access U.S. market liquidity and investment instruments even when they cannot open U.S. brokerage accounts. He says this may be particularly useful for some Asian investors, for whom U.S. trading hours fall between midnight and 6 a.m. CZ also argues that demand for access is not confined to New York’s market day: he says trading volume outside New York market hours is often higher, supporting the potential value of markets that remain open around the clock.

Broader access could benefit U.S. companies by giving more people the opportunity to buy their shares. CZ contrasted the limited trading activity in some national markets with the scale of potential global participation: he cited countries with populations of 100 million whose entire stock markets trade only $50 million a day. Binance, he said, has 330 million users, while the broader crypto world has roughly 600–700 million users and is growing. He presents tokenization as a possible route for connecting that existing audience with U.S. investment instruments, though the figures describe potential reach rather than guaranteed demand for any particular share.

CZ sees the opportunity extending beyond equities to assets that lack established trading venues. He named some precious metals, rare earth minerals, and natural resources such as water as examples that could benefit from tokenization and added liquidity. The wider proposition is an around-the-clock capital market in which tokenized equities and other assets can be traded beyond conventional market hours. The potential is not limited to making familiar securities available to more investors; it also includes creating ways to trade assets that currently have fewer established options for exchange.

He described BNB Chain’s tokenized real-world-asset ecosystem as an effort involving builders, liquidity providers, trading venues, and products that offer yields and earnings. CZ credited the ecosystem’s participants, rather than himself, with building it. He also claimed that BNB Chain has the highest total value locked in tokenized real-world assets and the most daily, weekly, and monthly active users. Those claims frame the chain as an active venue for this activity, while his description emphasizes that tokenization depends on a broader set of participants and products, not simply on issuing tokens.

Adoption by established companies is not assured. CZ cautioned that firms already listed on exchanges such as the NYSE may believe their existing liquidity is sufficient and may see little reason to add on-chain liquidity immediately. Those companies can wait to assess whether on-chain trading produces real liquidity, and adoption does not have to happen everywhere at once. His view is therefore that tokenization’s reach could expand over time, but that companies’ decisions will depend on whether the new market delivers a meaningful benefit.

CZ characterized the Nasdaq bell event as a symbolic and meaningful sign of crypto and Web3 integrating with traditional finance. He expects that integration to continue and argues that tokenization’s value should become clearer over time, potentially drawing more users. The near-term case rests on access, trading beyond conventional hours, and the possibility of new liquidity; the scale of adoption remains conditional on investors using these markets and companies seeing value in joining them.