🏦 The 10% Vision: How Tokenization Will Reshape Global Markets…

The digital asset industry stands at a critical inflection point. After eight to nine months into the current bear market, a fundamental shift is underway—one that extends far beyond typical cyclical dynamics. This isn't just another downturn where "tokens are bad" and retail investors flee. Instead, the market is witnessing a structural transformation in how tokenized assets are built, valued, and regulated.

In a recent conversation, Gracie Chen, CEO of Bitget, offered a compelling vision for this evolution—one where tokenization penetrates traditional finance at scale, exchanges converge with traditional markets, and investors demand equity-like rights from their token holdings.

📊 The Identity Crisis: From Alternative Asset to Infrastructure

The crypto industry has evolved dramatically since its libertarian, anti-establishment roots. What began as a niche movement centered on Bitcoin and Ethereum has matured into a multi-trillion-dollar ecosystem increasingly intertwined with Wall Street, regulatory bodies, and institutional capital.

This integration, however, has sparked what Chen describes as an "identity crisis" within the industry. The ideological purity of decentralization has given way to pragmatic collaboration with traditional finance. Yet rather than viewing this as capitulation, Chen frames it as inevitable evolution:

"When this industry or when the world is evolving so fast, you can't stop these kind of trends. You can't stop the RWA trend. You can't stop the AI trend. You have to follow that trend, and hopefully you can ride the wave and be an important player out there and do something magnificent."

The fundamental question facing the industry isn't whether to integrate with traditional finance—that ship has sailed—but rather how to maintain the innovative advantages of blockchain technology while meeting institutional standards for compliance, transparency, and investor protection.

🔄 The Token Market Transformation: Demanding Fundamentals Over Narratives

Previous bear markets followed a predictable pattern: retail investors suffered losses on tokens with poor structures, opaque tokenomics, and insider-favoring mechanics. This cycle has proven different in a crucial way—token holders are now demanding the same rights and transparency traditionally reserved for equity investors.

This shift represents a maturation of the investor base. Participants no longer accept vague narratives about potential bank adoption or protocol utility. Instead, they're scrutinizing:

Revenue generation and profit distribution mechanisms
Transparent frameworks distinguishing token value from equity value
Governance rights analogous to shareholder voting
Clear understanding of what ownership actually represents

Chen emphasized this evolution in Bitget's listing strategy: "The past week or so, the only token we've listed is an RWA token. We are seeing that kind of shift among exchanges, among the retail purchasers or traders, among project founders, and that's a very important shift that we need to be more focused on good quality projects."

The exchange has become increasingly selective, moving away from speculative altcoins toward projects with genuine product-market fit and sustainable business models. This quality-over-quantity approach signals a broader industry trend: the era of narrative-driven token launches without fundamental value is ending.

💼 The Token-Equity Convergence: A New Structural Challenge

One of the most pressing questions facing crypto companies today involves the relationship between their token offerings and potential equity listings. Many exchanges and protocols that issued platform tokens years ago now face complex decisions as they pursue traditional IPO paths.

The current market practice involves creating separation through layer-two chains or public blockchains that manage existing platform tokens—similar to how X Layer manages OKX's token and Morph manages Bitget's BGB token. Meanwhile, the parent exchange pursues regulatory compliance, audits from major firms, and licensing across multiple jurisdictions.

Yet this creates structural tension. As Chen acknowledged: "What's the BGB's role when we are listed 3 years later? After all, it belongs to Morph Foundation right now, but Morph is a company that we invested in and we incubated. These are complex questions we need to navigate."

Looking forward, some projects may wind down their token offerings entirely, replacing them with tokenized equity of the underlying company. Others might find ways to merge equity value with existing token structures, creating hybrid instruments that satisfy both blockchain-native and traditional investors.

Interestingly, traditional exchanges like Nasdaq and NYSE are exploring crypto-native issuance methods themselves, though these conversations remain at early stages and depend heavily on regulatory clarity from bodies like the SEC.

🌐 The 10% Vision: Quantifying Tokenization's Trajectory

Perhaps the most striking framework Chen shared was her "10% vision"—a quantitative prediction for tokenization penetration by 2030. She recently discussed this thesis with Rob Goldstein, COO of BlackRock, during a meeting in Manhattan.

The vision is straightforward but profound: "Right now, all the tokenized version of specific asset classes in TradFi market—money market funds, real estate, stocks, private credit, etc.—the penetration ratio is really really small. Private credit is around 0.5%, and tokenized stocks is only 0.01%. In my opinion, they should go to somewhere like 10% in 4-5 years time in 2030."

This represents a massive opportunity. With hundreds of trillions of dollars in traditional assets potentially moving on-chain over the next decade, even modest penetration rates translate to tens of trillions in tokenized value. The question becomes: who captures this value?

🏆 The Winners: Who Benefits Most from Tokenization at Scale?

When asked to identify which players will emerge as primary beneficiaries of the tokenization wave, Chen outlined several critical ecosystem participants:

1. Select Exchanges with Vision and Infrastructure
Not every exchange will succeed in this new paradigm. Only those investing heavily in compliance, user experience, and diverse asset offerings will capture institutional and retail adoption. Bitget has positioned itself in this category by listing tokenized stocks, commodities, ETFs, forex, bonds, money market funds, and pre-IPO stocks—most recently partnering with Republic Crypto to offer SpaceX pre-IPO shares in April.

2. Stablecoin Issuers and Providers
Stablecoins serve as the infrastructure layer enabling seamless trading across tokenized assets. Bitget allows users to trade universal asset classes using USDT, USDC, and USD gold, positioning stablecoin providers as critical intermediaries. Recent developments like Visa's open USD network launch—which notably impacted Circle's stock price—underscore the competitive dynamics in this space.

3. Blockchain Protocols Bridging TradFi and Crypto
Certain public chains are better positioned for real-world asset tokenization. Chen specifically highlighted Solana as particularly well-suited for RWAs, noting its close collaboration with regulators, major banks, and traditional finance players. Ethereum remains relevant, but Solana's focus on speed, low costs, and institutional partnerships gives it an edge in this vertical.

4. Retail Users and Community Participants
Perhaps most importantly, individual investors stand to benefit enormously from expanded access and capital efficiency. Through universal exchanges, users can now implement sophisticated portfolio management strategies previously available only to institutions. For example, Bitget enables users to use tokenized Nvidia stock (RNVDA) as margin to trade perpetuals on Bitcoin or other assets—dramatically increasing capital efficiency.

Additionally, tokenization provides access to markets that would otherwise be unavailable due to jurisdictional restrictions. Bitget allows users in dozens of countries to access tokenized US stocks that may not be accessible through traditional financial channels in their home jurisdictions.

⚖️ Perpetual Futures vs. Spot Tokenization: Complementary or Conflicting?

The rise of perpetual futures on real-world assets raises an important question: do perps cannibalize spot tokenization efforts, or do they serve complementary functions?

Chen views them as complementary rather than competitive. Perpetual and spot markets have coexisted in crypto exchanges for over a decade, serving different investor needs and strategies:

Spot tokenized assets appeal to long-term holders who want actual ownership without funding fees or liquidation risk
Perpetual futures offer leveraged exposure using oracle-fed synthetic pricing, attracting active traders and speculators

The discussion also touched on decentralized exchanges like Hyperliquid, which have gained traction through no-KYC perpetual trading. While Chen declined to comment specifically on Hyperliquid (noting that any comments tend to generate "fire bags" regardless of whether positive or negative), she emphasized Bitget's commitment to proper KYC/AML compliance and regulatory licensing.

This strategic choice reflects a broader bifurcation in the exchange landscape: some platforms will pursue full regulatory compliance and institutional partnerships, while others will maintain a more DeFi-native, permissionless approach. Both paths have validity, but they serve fundamentally different user bases and risk profiles.

Notably, the onshoring of perpetual futures to the US market is accelerating. With CFTC Chairman Michael Saylor expressing support and CME recently listing individual stock futures, the regulatory environment is becoming more accommodating. This trend should expand access for US investors who have been largely excluded from offshore perp markets—except for those using VPNs to circumvent geographic restrictions.

🔮 The Road Ahead: A Marathon, Not a Sprint

As the conversation concluded, Chen returned to a fundamental principle that guides Bitget's long-term strategy: "Running an exchange is not a sprint. You have to have that long-term mindset and mentality in order to build something great. Right now is the best time, best place in New York, that you can really achieve something very magnificent."

She drew a historical parallel to the early 20th century, when JP Morgan and other innovators revolutionized traditional finance. Today's tokenization wave represents a similar moment of transformation—one where established financial rails are being rebuilt on blockchain infrastructure.

The bear market, while painful for many participants, serves a crucial function: it separates projects with genuine value from those riding narrative momentum without substance. Meme coins, AI agent tokens without real utility, and projects that simply tell stories without building products face increasing skepticism from an investor base that has matured through multiple cycles.

Meanwhile, projects focused on transparency, on-chain and off-chain data sharing, and genuine product-market fit are attracting both capital and attention. The convergence of crypto-native innovation with institutional standards for compliance, auditing, and investor protection is creating new opportunities for builders willing to navigate this complex landscape.

✅ Key Takeaways

Tokenization penetration of traditional assets currently sits below 1% across most categories—private credit at approximately 0.5%, tokenized stocks at just 0.01%
The "10% vision" projects these figures reaching 10% by 2030, representing tens of trillions in tokenized value
Token investors now demand equity-like rights: revenue sharing, governance participation, and transparent value distribution
Exchanges pursuing institutional integration must balance token offerings with potential IPO paths, creating complex structural questions
Stablecoins, compliant exchanges, RWA-focused blockchains, and retail users stand to benefit most from tokenization at scale
Perpetual futures and spot tokenization serve complementary rather than competing functions in the broader market ecosystem
Quality over quantity has become the dominant listing philosophy among leading exchanges, filtering out speculative projects without fundamentals

The digital asset industry has moved beyond its early identity as an alternative asset class. It now represents foundational infrastructure for reimagining how value is created, transferred, and stored across global markets. Those who adapt to this new reality—embracing both blockchain innovation and institutional standards—will define the next era of financial services.