Tokenized stocks are a rounding error today. Binance Research thinks that changes fast.
In a report titled “The RWA Activation Era,” published September 18, 2026, the exchange’s research arm projects that tokenized equities could reach approximately $349 billion by 2030 under its base-case scenario. As of September 15, 2026, the on-chain balance stood at $4.43 billion.
Three scenarios, one big spread
Binance Research laid out three paths for tokenized equities by 2030. The conservative case lands at $61 billion. The base case sits at $349 billion, and the bull case stretches to $987 billion.
Tokenized equities currently represent just 0.0029% of the $151.9 trillion listed equity market. The momentum this year has been real, though. Tokenized equities have grown 390.4% year-to-date, according to the report.
The report is an update to an earlier Binance Research analysis on real-world asset tokenization published May 15, 2026. The new edition shifts its emphasis in a notable way.
From issuance to activation
Binance Research argues the market is now moving into a second step: rather than measuring success only by how many assets get tokenized, the report focuses on whether those tokens get used in on-chain applications such as liquidity pools, lending, and collateral arrangements.
To track this, the report introduces two metrics. The Programmable Asset Ratio (PAR) measures market penetration, meaning how much of an underlying asset class has been brought on-chain. The Capital Activation Rate (CAR) measures how much of that on-chain value is actually deployed in financial applications.
On that front, equities are showing movement. Equity CAR rose from 1.95% to 7.54% year-to-date. Of the deployed value, 65.4% sits in liquidity pools and 28.1% is in lending.
The broader RWA picture
Equities are only one slice of the real-world asset market. Across all categories, on-chain RWA assets under management reached $34.18 billion by mid-September 2026, an 85.2% increase within the year.
Total tokenized RWA penetration across major asset classes sits around 0.01% of their underlying markets, per the report’s PAR measurements.
Binance Research also points to emerging products aimed at users in global markets as part of the outlook.
What this means
For investors and traders, the most useful takeaway may be the shift in what to watch. Binance Research is arguing that utilization deserves equal attention alongside issuance totals.
The equity CAR jump from 1.95% to 7.54% is the data point that supports this argument most directly. It suggests DeFi protocols are finding uses for tokenized stocks, mostly in liquidity provision.
What to watch from here: whether CAR keeps rising, whether lending grows as a share of deployed value, and whether new global products push tokenized equity balances meaningfully beyond today’s $4.43 billion.
