The US stock market continues to shatter records—the S&P 500 has surpassed 7,534 points, a 75% gain over five years—but billions of people remain locked out of that growth. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong believes tokenization is the key to breaking Wall Street’s century-old monopoly. “Imagine being on the sidelines of this growth,” Armstrong wrote on July 16, 2026. “Billions of people don’t have to imagine—they have no access to invest in American companies.”
In response, Coinbase has launched its “Everything Exchange,” rolling out tokenized stock trading for non‑US users through its offshore entities. The tokens are backed 1:1 by real shares, enabling anyone with a smartphone to buy fractional stakes in giants like Apple or Nvidia and receive actual dividends, bypassing brokers and geographical barriers. The move is already resonating: experts estimate more than half the adult population in developing nations is cut off from global capital markets.
Wall Street, meanwhile, is not resisting but racing to lead the trend. Clearing titan DTCC, together with JPMorgan and BlackRock, completed tests this week that moved stock ETFs onto blockchain infrastructure. In a parallel step, JPMorgan successfully executed an equity token conversion of the Invesco QQQ Trust on July 15, 2026, a milestone highlighted by DTCC. This test signals that traditional financial giants are actively piloting tokenized securities, aiming to blend conventional and crypto-native rails.
The backdrop for these moves is a booming real‑world asset (RWA) market, which has now surpassed $33 billion in total value, according to rwa.xyz. Adding legislative momentum, the US Senate is moving the Clarity Act toward a final vote, providing a potential regulatory framework that could accelerate institutional tokenization. With billions in idle capital and smartphone penetration soaring globally, the fight for retail investors is entering a new phase—one where decentralized technology could dismantle the brokerage stronghold for good.
