In the past six months, if you have been tracking the dynamics of major exchanges, it is not hard to notice a trend—tokenization of US stocks is becoming a new battlefield.
Coinbase has launched 'tokenized US Treasuries', Binance has begun laying out 'equity tokens', and Kraken, FTX (after its relaunch), and others have also expressed their intention to promote compliance assets on-chain. On the surface, this is the 'integration of traditional finance and the crypto world' and a sign of the industry's maturation.
But if we think deeper, could there be another more direct reality:
Have exchanges finally admitted that the vast majority of 'native assets' in the crypto space really have no real value?
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1. The narrative of altcoins can no longer be sustained.
From the 'next generation blockchain' in 2017 to DeFi in 2020, NFTs and GameFi in 2021, and later Meme coins, AI coins, and RWA... each cycle brings a new narrative that drives a new wave of token surges.
However, most projects are essentially 'liquidity games.' Once the market cools down and funds retreat, project teams disband, code stops updating, and communities go silent, resulting in token prices dropping to zero or approaching zero. Exchanges list coins, provide market making, and earn transaction fees, but in the long run, the liquidity of these assets is shrinking, and users are exiting due to losses.
Exchanges need sustainable liquidity, not just a fleeting hot trend. When users begin to tire of 'buying altcoins and getting trapped,' the foundational traffic of exchanges will waver.
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2. What do users really want: 'faith' or 'returns'?
Early users in the crypto space may have been willing to pay for the 'decentralization vision,' but most of those entering this market today are essentially here to invest, and even to make money. When Bitcoin and Ethereum experience massive fluctuations, altcoins are even more volatile, leading many to gradually realize: they cannot bear such risks.
Tokenized products in the US stock market—such as Tesla, Apple, and government bond ETFs—are backed by real revenue, dividends, and interest, and represent regulated assets supported by cash flow.
They may not increase by a hundred times overnight, but they also won't drop to zero overnight.
By listing such assets, exchanges are essentially meeting users' demands for 'stability' and 'real value'—even if this 'real value' comes from traditional financial systems.
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3. The inevitable choice for survival through compliance.
Global regulation is tightening, and if exchanges want to survive in the long term, they must embrace compliance. The first step in compliance is often to launch compliant assets.
Tokenized products in the US stock market are often associated with the custodial, auditing, and compliant issuance processes of licensed institutions. Through such products, exchanges demonstrate to regulators: 'We are not a casino; we are a bridge to a new asset class.'
This not only reduces their own policy risks but also attracts more traditional funds to enter—those institutions and high-net-worth individuals that hesitated due to excessive volatility and overly 'virtual' assets.
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4. This is not about 'abandoning crypto,' but rather 'redefining crypto.'
Some people may say: isn't this just going back down the old path of traditional finance? Where is the revolutionary aspect of crypto?
In fact, this may very well be the next phase of crypto: no longer challenging the world with air coins, but empowering real assets with blockchain.
Tokenizing US stocks is just the beginning. In the future, there may be tokenized real estate, tokenized commodities, tokenized private equity... blockchain becomes the underlying protocol for ownership registration, transfer, and settlement, while crypto exchanges evolve into 'global asset exchanges.'
By then, exchanges will no longer rely on listing fees and altcoin volatility for survival, but rather on asset issuance, custody, trading, and management fees— a more sustainable business model.
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5. How much time is left for altcoins?
This does not mean that altcoins will completely disappear. Innovation always requires experimentation, and speculation always requires targets.
However, the resource allocation of exchanges will change—traffic, publicity, and market making support will increasingly flow to assets that can bring stable funds and compliant narratives.
In the future, altcoins must either achieve genuine technological breakthroughs and ecological value or completely degrade into toys for niche market speculation.
Most projects that have neither technology nor cash flow may gradually be marginalized by exchanges and even delisted in bulk.
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Ultimately, exchanges are not faith-based institutions; they are commercial entities.
When it finds that users are more willing to pay for 'Apple stock tokens' instead of taking on 'the next Dogecoin imitation,' the shift becomes inevitable.
This is not a betrayal of crypto; it is simply facing a reality honestly:
Most people come to this market ultimately for appreciation, not to pay for faith.
And tokenization of US stocks may be a new key that exchanges provide to this group of users—
Open a door that is more stable and also more realistic.
