When Base co-founder Jesse Pollak talked about tokenization at Token2049, the focus wasn’t stablecoins.
His point was that tokenized stocks and non-dollar stablecoins are what will drive the next supercycle.
I think a lot of people agree with this direction. Dollar stablecoins have taken off, but central banks around the world aren’t going to give up monetary sovereignty. The euro, Canadian dollar, naira, and Indonesian rupiah are all still significantly underpriced.
Base already supports 21 currencies and 32 stablecoins. It got in early.
But tokenized stocks are even more explosive. Their circulating supply grew from $400 million to $3.3 billion in the past year—an 8x increase. Coinbase launched on Base just six weeks ago, and daily trading volume is now $70 million to $100 million, with 50 stocks listed. Pollak says they’re aiming for 250 by the end of the month.
You can trade 24/7, get your money instantly after selling, and transfer assets directly onchain. Traditional brokerages can’t offer that.
He also talked about 2027: continuing to expand trading, payments, and lending, while building infrastructure for machine payments. The idea is that more and more financial activity will be handled by AI agents over the next year or two, and Base wants to be the underlying rails.
Tokenized stocks, non-dollar stablecoins, and AI payments may look like three separate things right now, but put them together and they form a single chain: assets onchain, payments and settlement, and automated execution by machines.
Whoever connects those three links first will lead the next wave.
His point was that tokenized stocks and non-dollar stablecoins are what will drive the next supercycle.
I think a lot of people agree with this direction. Dollar stablecoins have taken off, but central banks around the world aren’t going to give up monetary sovereignty. The euro, Canadian dollar, naira, and Indonesian rupiah are all still significantly underpriced.
Base already supports 21 currencies and 32 stablecoins. It got in early.
But tokenized stocks are even more explosive. Their circulating supply grew from $400 million to $3.3 billion in the past year—an 8x increase. Coinbase launched on Base just six weeks ago, and daily trading volume is now $70 million to $100 million, with 50 stocks listed. Pollak says they’re aiming for 250 by the end of the month.
You can trade 24/7, get your money instantly after selling, and transfer assets directly onchain. Traditional brokerages can’t offer that.
He also talked about 2027: continuing to expand trading, payments, and lending, while building infrastructure for machine payments. The idea is that more and more financial activity will be handled by AI agents over the next year or two, and Base wants to be the underlying rails.
Tokenized stocks, non-dollar stablecoins, and AI payments may look like three separate things right now, but put them together and they form a single chain: assets onchain, payments and settlement, and automated execution by machines.
Whoever connects those three links first will lead the next wave.