The market for tokenized stocks hit an all-time high in November 2026.
Crypto exchange Binance announced this, citing data from analytics platform Token Terminal. As of November 10, assets in the segment reached $4.8 billion, up from $645 million at the start of the year, meaning the market has grown more than 640% since January. It is the fastest-growing category of tokenized real-world assets (RWA) in 2026.
Binance’s bStocks has become the largest product in the segment, with $1.5 billion under management, or about 31% of the total market. It is followed by Ondo Finance (29.1%) and xStocks (22.2%). In total, 23 issuers operate in the market.
The topic matters for Armenia for two reasons. First, it shows how access to traditional financial instruments is changing. Second, it coincides with Armenia building its own regulatory framework for the crypto-asset market.
What tokenized stocks are
A tokenized stock is a digital token on a blockchain whose value is tied to a real security, such as a company share or an exchange-traded fund (ETF). These instruments belong to the RWA category, the term for tokens that reflect the value of assets from the traditional economy.
The segment’s growth has been accompanied by rising activity. According to Binance Research, on-chain transfers of tokenized stocks exceeded $100 billion in the third quarter of 2026, more than 16 times the first-quarter figure of about $6 billion.
How bStocks works
bStocks was launched on June 11, 2026. On October 15, its assets passed $1 billion, about four months after launch, which the company describes as the fastest result among tokenized stocks.
Since launch, total bStocks trading volume has topped $45 billion. A further $7.5 billion has been converted between positions in the underlying securities and bStocks tokens at a 1:1 ratio. According to the company, each token can be redeemed for the underlying security, not only for its cash equivalent.
“Tokenized equities reaching an all-time high is a market-level signal, and bStocks becoming the largest product in the category shows where that demand is concentrating. We built the product to give simple 1:1 access to stocks and ETFs without the need to open a separate brokerage account,” said Shunyet Jan, Head of Exchange and Trading at Binance.
Legally, however, bStocks are not shares. They are certificates that track certain financial instruments and do not give holders direct ownership of the issuing company’s shares.
How tokenized stocks are used
bStocks data show that tokenized stocks are used differently from ordinary securities traded on a conventional exchange.
The first difference is trading hours. About 56% of bStocks trading volume since launch has taken place while the main US stock market session is closed. This is especially noticeable for users in time zones far from New York: in Yerevan, the US trading session falls in the evening and at night.
The second is use in decentralized finance (DeFi). In early October, the share of bStocks deployed in DeFi protocols reached 11.2%, about 3.8 percentage points higher than for comparable tokenized stocks.
The third is use as collateral. Loans backed by bStocks rose from 5.5% of deposited tokens at the end of June to 46.2% on September 10, an 8.4-fold increase.
These figures primarily reflect the scale and nature of the product’s use. They do not mean the instruments have become less risky: the price of a tokenized stock follows that of the underlying asset and can go up as well as down.
What is happening in Armenia
Over the past year and a half, Armenia has been building its own regulatory system for the crypto-asset market. The Law on Crypto-Assets entered into force on July 4, 2025. It sets rules for trading crypto-assets, providing services and supervising the market, and designates the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) as the regulator.
The CBA’s first secondary regulations took effect on January 31, 2026. They cover licensing, minimum capital requirements, registration of executives, and the form and content of the crypto-asset offering document. The texts, including Regulation 7/01 on the registration and licensing of crypto-asset service providers, are published in ARLIS, Armenia’s official legal information system.
According to the CBA, legal entities in Armenia may provide crypto-asset services only after registration and licensing by the CBA. Companies that operated in the market before the law entered into force must obtain a licence within one year from January 31, 2026, or stop providing such services.
In the regulator’s view, this model should ensure that only vetted and transparent companies enter the market, protect the rights of crypto-asset buyers and increase trust in the market.
Tokenized securities are a different class of instruments from crypto-assets in general. In each jurisdiction, their legal status is also determined by securities market legislation. The global growth of the segment therefore does not mean that specific products are automatically available to residents of a given country.
What this means for Armenia
The record for tokenized stocks points to a broader trend: the line between traditional financial instruments and blockchain infrastructure is becoming less rigid. The segment has grown more than sevenfold in ten months, and a significant share of trading takes place outside regular US exchange hours.
At the same time, these products have limitations. bStocks is offered under a prospectus approved in the jurisdiction of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) and is available only to eligible users in permitted jurisdictions. Users are responsible for checking whether access to such instruments is lawful in their country.
For Armenia, where a licensing system for crypto-asset service providers has just been launched, the key question is less the pace of global market growth than the transparency of its participants. Clear rules, regulatory oversight and users’ awareness of risks will determine how such instruments are perceived in the country going forward.
