thestreet.com
The race to tokenize stocks is no longer theoretical. It's a multi-horse competition with competing models, real issuers, and billions in potential liquidity at stake.
In a recent interview with TheStreet Roundtable discussion, Solana Foundation's head of institutional growth Nick Ducoff broke it down in terms retail investors rarely hear and explained why Solana is especially well suited for this type of use case.
"Solana's vision of becoming the on-chain Nasdaq and home of internet capital markets is getting closer and closer," Ducoff said.
The different approaches to tokenized equities
There are currently four distinct approaches to tokenized equities, each with real trade-offs.
The first is the digital twin model, pioneered by Ondo Finance. A token represents a share of the underlying asset: the issuer buys the stock, holds it in custody, and prices trades via a request-for-quote system.
Trading runs Sunday night through Friday night, a 24/5 model.
The second is the 24/7 model, led by Kraken's xStocks. These trade around the clock using automated market makers (AMMs), decentralized protocols that automatically price trades without a central exchange. The trade-off is real, though.
"You may have wider spreads because you're not getting a quote directly from the market," Ducoff said.
The third is the direct transfer agent model, championed by SuperState through its Opening Bell platform. Companies like Exodus, Forward Industries, and Galaxy serve as issuers of record.
"You know you're getting the same stock that you would be getting if you were buying it on your brokerage account," Ducoff said.
That distinction carries real weight for compliance and legitimacy.
The fourth, and newest, is the DTCC entitlement model.
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the backbone of U.S. equity settlement, retains custody of the underlying security but allows holders to use it as on-chain collateral.
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Solana's bet
Ducoff didn't crown a winner, but he was clear on one point: Solana supports all four.
"I'm not exactly sure which model is ultimately going to win in the market, but Solana supports all of these models," he said.
That's a meaningful structural advantage. If tokenized equities go mainstream, and the current momentum suggests they are, Solana's infrastructure could sit at the center of it all.
Regulatory clarity and liquidity depth remain open questions, but for the first time, the plumbing for a 24/7 global stock market is actively being built. And it's being built on crypto rails.