Tokenised shares, fast trading and lower costs
The digital representation of a title has many advantages. But regulation and interoperability are needed
Key points
È inevitabile: massimo dieci anni e l’intero mercato finanziario sarà tokenizzato”. Parola di Vlad Tenev, Ceo di Robinhood. D’altra parte, se la World Liberty Financial sta occupandosi di mettere su blockchain il patrimonio immobiliare della famiglia Trump, Robinhood ha rotto il ghiaccio quest’estate con il lancio delle azioni tokenizzate, aprendo la strada a quella che si candida a essere la nuova era dei titoli azionari, quella della rappresentazione digitale pronta a essere supportata dalla blockchain in logica di finanza (e mercati) decentralizzata. In realtà, quelle lanciate dal neobroker statunitense non sono tecnicamente azioni tokenizzate, ma rappresentazioni sintetiche di oltre duecento azioni americane disponibili per investitori europei, tra cui anche titoli privati come OpenAI e SpaceX, a partire da cinque euro. Più recentemente anche Kraken ha reso disponibile per gli europei l’investimento in un sessantina di titoli americani, sempre con la stessa formula limitata.
Tokenised assets, capitalisation at 2 trillion
McKinsey estimates that tokenized assets could reach a capitalisation of $2 trillion by 2030, in bonds, fund shares and ETNs alone, a figure that could double in a more optimistic scenario. To date, the contribution of tokenized shares is minimal, amounting to just over $420 million, according to data from the specialists at rwa.xyz. It is difficult to imagine, therefore, that the entire global stock market will be revolutionised overnight, but evolution will be able to take up the benefits of innovation.
To put it simply, tokenized shares are a digital, encrypted representation of a security in order to make it exchangeable on the blockchain: the underlying share remains in the custody of the custodian, the token is only a representation of it, which can be equal to the whole share or a fraction of it. These digital instruments can be bought or sold via the blockchain, exploiting its potential in terms of efficiency and speed, but do not entitle one to ownership as a shareholder of the company of relative rights such as voting.
In the cases of Robinhood and Kraken, these are synthetic representations of securities that merely follow the price without even the guarantee of ownership. In the case of true tokenization, the mechanism is similar to stablecoins, which are guaranteed by foreign exchange reserves: if the issuer/custodian of the securities fails, the token holders will be in trouble because the real underlying security disappears. At the same time, the regulation of financial securities remains in place, but the tokens remain in a grey area that is difficult to define.
Action exchangeable on blockchain
So why resort to tokenized shares? The fact that they are a wrapper containing the representation of an exchangeable share on blockchain enables markets that never stop, with exchanges twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, without pause. Wherever you are, the market is open when you want it to be, reacting to news, both positive and negative, in real time.
