IMF finds demand for tokenized stocks, says the market is still volatile, illiquid
The IMF reports that while the market for tokenized U.S. equities is growing, it remains volatile and illiquid. The study highlights that investors are primarily driven by the demand for 24/7 trading access rather than the underlying blockchain technology.
Why it matters
This analysis provides a regulatory and institutional perspective on the risks and adoption drivers of real-world asset tokenization in global finance.
The IMF’s latest Global Financial Stability Report, titled Scaling Tokenization: New efficiencies and new vulnerabilities, examines the five most actively traded tokenized U.S. equities, including Tesla (TSLA), Nvidia (NVDA) and Alphabet (GOOG) as well as measures such as the Nasdaq 100 Index, across centralized and decentralized venues.
More than half of trading took place outside regular U.S. market hours, the IMF found. About 80% of trades were for less than one share. For the report, those figures are evidence that investors value 24/7 access and lower entry points, not just the technology behind a tokenized stock.
The study also found that overnight moves in tokenized stocks carried useful information for the underlying shares. Once U.S. markets opened, more than 85% of the overnight movement in tokenized shares was reflected in their traditional counterparts within five minutes, the IMF said.
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