Prominent research organization Citrini Research indicates that Wall Street’s adoption of blockchain technology could unlock a massive new industry for digital assets, suggesting that enterprises and decentralized protocols gathering fees via trading, borrowing, and payments might outperform both bitcoin and ether.
Released on Thursday, a 79-page study entitled Breaking the Wall suggests that migrating equities, fixed-income instruments, and alternative financial instruments onto decentralized ledgers can forge novel commercial models across execution, lending, and settlement vectors.
Asset tokenization transforms conventional instruments into digital tokens capable of transferring seamlessly across trading environments while operating continuously around the clock. For instance, a tokenized equity could act as direct loan collateral straight from a user’s web3 wallet, bypassing legacy brokerage intermediaries altogether.
Citrini maintains widespread recognition for its macro technology and financial market analysis—including artificial intelligence research—alongside managing a leading Substack publication exceeding 263,000 subscribers. Earlier this year, the firm’s evaluation of artificial intelligence went viral, instilling panic and triggering a short-lived market correction.
The study highlights that this functional adaptability unlocks fresh verticals for exchange operators, credit providers, stablecoin creators, and firms managing equity registry operations. Furthermore, the report emphasizes that top performers will likely be corporate entities and crypto ecosystems capturing fees generated by this transactional velocity.
“We can’t assume that majors, primarily BTC and ETH, will make new ATHs on this,” the document notes, referencing all-time highs. “Even if they do, there are better expressions.”
Stock picks for playing tokenization
To pinpoint viable prospects, Citrini constructed two distinct portfolios: one dedicated to publicly listed equities and another comprising digital tokens.
The research placed heavy emphasis on organizations positioned to accumulate fees as greater portions of traditional finance transition onchain.
Special mention went to tokenization specialist Securitize (SECZ), which preserves the legal connection linking blockchain tokens to underlying equities.
Additionally, trading venue Coinbase (COIN) and retail digital brokerage Robinhood (HOOD) provide exposure via their trading venues and blockchain architecture, whereas stablecoin provider Circle (CRCL) stands to capture increased transaction demand for its USDC asset, according to the publication.
Citrini additionally cited Figure Technology Solutions (FIGR) regarding tokenized debt markets, SoFi (SOFI) concerning stablecoin settlement mechanisms, and institutional digital asset execution platform Bullish (BLSH)—CoinDesk’s parent organization—which is actively acquiring share registrar Equiniti.
Crypto tokens benefitting from tokenization
Citrini expressed that it felt “actually more excited” regarding its alternative crypto-token portfolio, arguing it yields broader participation relative to the constrained list of public equities.
“If we’re right that stocks, commodities and other financial assets are moving onchain, then eventually all of the financial products built around those assets should follow them,” the analysis states.
The assessment spotlights Aerodrome (AERO), an automated market maker poised to harvest fees from tokenized equity transfers, alongside Maple (SYRUP), which coordinates institutional-grade decentralized lending operations.
The study also features Pendle (PENDLE), which permits market participants to transact future yields derived from interest-bearing instruments, while Ondo Finance (ONDO) supplies tokenized U.S. Treasuries, equity products, and newly introduced perpetual swaps. Aave (SUPPLY) delivers borrowing architecture, Uniswap (UNI) provides decentralized execution markets, and digital asset protocol Ethena (ENA) mints stablecoins while branching out into decentralized finance by merging high-yield vaults, cards, and payment rails.
Citrini’s digital token allocation additionally incorporates ether.fi (ETHFI) for decentralized financial services, Chainlink (LINK) for oracle market feeds, and LayerZero (ZRO) for cross-chain network bridges. Each of these three projects could capture value as tokenized properties permeate various financial platforms and distributed networks.
The findings draw attention to Derive (DRV), a decentralized options protocol poised to capture value if tokenized shares and auxiliary financial instruments channel heavy derivatives volume onto distributed networks.
Recognition was also extended to emerging perpetual swap platforms Lighter (LIT) and Variational (VAR). Perpetual futures represent agreements allowing speculators to wager on upward or downward price shifts without holding the underlying property, lacking the expiration dates characteristic of traditional futures contracts. Although Hyperliquid (HYPE) functions as the dominant decentralized perpetual swap venue, Citrini suggests these two emerging contenders may gain momentum alongside Hyperliquid as the overall perpetuals sector scales. Exposure to Hyperliquid was additionally integrated into the equity portfolio through the Bitwise Hyperliquid ETF (BHYP).
Nevertheless, the Citrini study warns that expanding exchange volumes and network participation do not automatically drive up asset valuations. Investors must carefully analyze how individual protocols generate revenue, who captures the fee streams, and whether token holders secure a portion of those earnings.
Furthermore, the documentation flags liquidity fragmentation distributed among competing networks, security vulnerabilities capable of stalling implementation, and regulatory hurdles tied to synthetic tokenized equities that mirror price action without supplying the voting privileges or direct ownership associated with traditional shares.
Originally published at https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/10/08/wall-street-s-tokenization-boom-could-have-bigger-winners-than-bitcoin-and-ether-citrini-says.
