• Tokenized stock monthly DEX volume reached $7.9 billion in August, a first above the mark

• Tokenized stock market capitalization rose from $965 million to about $4 billion by September 9

• DeFi value locked in tokenized stocks grew from $21.6 million to $289.1 million

Tokenized Stock Volume Hits $7.9B

Monthly trading volume for tokenized stocks broke through $7.9 billion in August, according to a September 11 report from Binance Research — the first time the segment has cleared that threshold, and a more than 33-fold expansion from the $237 million posted in January, just seven months earlier. Tokenized stocks are blockchain tokens that track the value of listed equities and can be transferred and traded on-chain; the figures aggregate turnover on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) across multiple networks, from Ethereum-native issuers to alternatives such as Polygon (POL). The growth is not limited to trading activity. The circulating market value of equity tokens climbed from $965 million at the start of the year to roughly $4 billion as of September 9 — a fourfold increase that volume growth has far outpaced. Adoption is being driven partly by existing brokerage customers: 58.5% of early users of Binance’s own bStocks product also traded perpetual futures or direct equities, suggesting familiar interfaces are funneling traditional traders on-chain. Concentration is stark. bStocks and Robinhood together accounted for just 0.8% of tracked volume in June, 82.3% in August, and 87.8% month-to-date through September 9. Meme-coin activity is also feeding the tape: SQD analysis cited in the report found that 32.1% of cumulative DEX volume for tokenized stocks on Robinhood Chain through August 30 came from swaps against meme coins and other tokens. Beyond trading, DeFi usage is deepening — collateralized borrowing against equity tokens pushed total value locked from $21.6 million in January to $289.1 million by September 9. Binance Research concludes that competition is shifting from issuing more tickers toward building venues where tokens trade continuously and gain utility as collateral.

Tom Lee Sees 12 Bullish Months

Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee argues the market may be at the start of an unusually strong stretch, saying in a recent post on X that the next 12 months should be “really bullish” for crypto. His case rests on three legs: the deleveraging event last October already flushed out much of the excess leverage built up through margin trading; the historically important four-year cycle is approaching its expected trough; and fundamentals kept improving even as prices fell — a contrast, in his words, with past crypto winters marked by closures, absent capital and dwindling use cases. Tokenization features prominently in that fundamental picture. “So many high-profile major financial institutions are building tokenized products, particularly on Ethereum,” Lee said, adding that growing AI capabilities point the same direction, because AI agents have little use for traditional financial rails. He framed the recent sharp rebound as a “course correction” rather than a fleeting rally, and cautioned against trying to time the exact bottom: whether the low was last week or a retrace follows, investors are in an attractive part of the cycle either way. Lee also flagged institutional FOMO as a pending catalyst if crypto keeps outperforming traditional assets, and pointed to his firm’s long-running finding that crypto concentrates its returns in roughly 10 explosive sessions per cycle — of which 2026 has so far produced only about one, in his assessment leaving substantial upside between now and year-end.

Tokenization Is the Throughline

The two stories converge on the same mechanism: tokenization maturing from experiment into infrastructure. The $7.9 billion August volume record is precisely the fundamental strengthening Lee describes — usage compounding while prices sat in a prolonged drawdown — and his X post singles out Ethereum as where institutions are building, tying demand for the network to equity-token growth even when issuance lands on adjacent chains. AI-linked infrastructure tokens such as Render (RENDER) target the same agent-driven demand Lee identifies. Our desk’s reading: with sentiment gauges like the Fear and Greed Index still far from euphoric and only one truly explosive session logged in 2026, the primary data supports the view that this cycle’s largest moves may still lie ahead.