Binance founder CZ says ‘tokenize everything’ to attract investors

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao is mounting a coordinated push to convince governments to embrace blockchain-based tokenization of core financial infrastructure, specifically national stock exchanges and sovereign stablecoins. Following meetings with country leaders and regulators across Asia, CZ outlined his recommendations in public statements, though he did not identify the specific nations involved in these discussions. His pitch centers on real-world asset (RWA) tokenization as an institutional-grade solution rather than a retail accessibility feature—a subtle but significant reframing from earlier tokenization narratives.

CZ's core argument rests on two pillars: first, governments should tokenize their equity markets to attract global capital inflows by converting company shares into blockchain-native tokens that trade around the clock with faster settlement and fractional ownership capabilities. Second, countries should issue their own fiat-backed stablecoins to expand their national currency's utility across blockchain networks and reduce dependency on alternative reserve currencies. This dual strategy positions sovereign blockchain adoption as a natural progression in financial modernization rather than a speculative technology adoption.

The market backdrop supports CZ's timing. Tokenized real-world assets on public blockchains reached $32 billion by mid-2026, representing more than five-fold growth from approximately $6 billion a year earlier. Boston Consulting Group's projections suggest the RWA sector could expand to $16 trillion by 2030, indicating substantial institutional and governmental capital potential. While no sovereign nation has yet fully tokenized its national stock exchange, proof-of-concept implementations already exist: multiple blockchain platforms currently list tokenized versions of major U.S. company stocks and ETFs, demonstrating technical viability and regulatory acceptance in select jurisdictions.

CZ's tokenization thesis gains credibility from alignment with traditional institutional finance leaders. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has independently articulated a comparable vision, emphasizing how tokenization and digitization of investment vehicles could guide pension funds and new market entrants into blockchain infrastructure. This convergence between crypto infrastructure operators and traditional asset managers suggests tokenization has moved beyond fringe positioning into mainstream institutional strategy discussions, potentially reshaping capital markets architecture over the next three to five years.