Tokenizing Stocks, Cars to Drive Blockchain Adoption

Robert Leshner, founder and CEO of Superstate and the visionary behind Compound Labs, believes the path to mainstream blockchain adoption runs through the tokenization of real-world assets. While tokenized U.S. Treasury funds have captured institutional attention, Leshner told Decrypt that true mass adoption will require bringing cars, houses, and particularly stocks onto the blockchain. Tokenization converts physical assets into digital tokens, enabling faster transactions and programmable functionality through smart contracts while the underlying asset remains unchanged.

The institutional groundwork for this transition is already being laid. BlackRock’s iShares BUIDL fund has amassed $2.3 billion, Franklin Templeton’s BENJI fund manages $846 million, and Ondo’s OUSG and USDY products collectively manage $1.4 billion. These successful tokenized Treasury products demonstrate growing institutional confidence in on-chain traditional assets, creating a foundation for the broader tokenization ecosystem that Leshner envisions.

While tokenizing physical assets like cars and houses would widen public awareness, Leshner identifies stocks as the potential supercharger for blockchain adoption. “When you start to say, like you own the stock, you can self-custody the stock, you can bring it to a DeFi protocol and you can borrow against it,” Leshner explained. “And you can take that money and buy a car or buy a house and leave the system entirely with it—I think there’s going to be a lot of really happy investors.”

This vision represents a fundamental shift from traditional finance, where investors are largely limited to buying more stocks through their broker-dealers. Leshner emphasized that “the ability to use financing in new ways is incredibly appealing” and would unlock unprecedented financial flexibility for investors. Superstate is already building the infrastructure to make this reality, having recently helped tokenize shares of Nasdaq-traded Solana Company and Galaxy Digital on its Opening Bell platform.

Beyond new financing capabilities, Leshner highlighted asset portability as an exciting but “underexplored” benefit of tokenization. Current systems for transferring shares between different firms are cumbersome and inefficient. “If I want to just move a share to you because it’s your birthday and I want to put a share in your account, it’s actually really hard,” Leshner noted. “There’s weird solutions that have been built over the years, like stock gift cards, but stock is not really portable.”

Tokenization could revolutionize this process by making asset transfers as simple as sending digital tokens between blockchain wallets. This enhanced portability would eliminate the complex intermediary systems that currently complicate asset transfers, creating a more fluid and accessible financial ecosystem. The combination of new financing options and improved portability represents a powerful value proposition that could drive the widespread adoption Leshner predicts.

Leshner brings substantial credibility to this vision, having first splashed into the crypto industry in 2017 when he founded Compound Labs, one of the earliest Ethereum DeFi lending protocols. His current venture, Superstate, focuses specifically on building the infrastructure needed to move traditional financial assets on-chain through tokenization. The company’s work represents a bridge between traditional finance and the emerging world of decentralized finance.

The success of tokenized Treasury products from established financial giants like BlackRock and Franklin Templeton suggests that traditional finance is increasingly comfortable with blockchain technology. As more institutions recognize the benefits of faster settlements, reduced counterparty risk, and enhanced programmability, the infrastructure being built by companies like Superstate will become increasingly critical. The transition from tokenized Treasuries to tokenized stocks, cars, and houses may happen faster than many anticipate, driven by the compelling use cases Leshner has identified.