Bitwise CEO sees tokenized equities as key development over next 2-3 years

Tokenization is poised to be one of the biggest developments in financial markets over the next two to three years, according to Bitwise Asset Management CEO Hunter Horsley. Speaking with CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal on the sidelines of TOKEN2049, Horsley said bringing equities and other capital markets onchain could transform how assets are traded and accessed, with 24/7 trading and fractional ownership among the potential benefits. “I think everyone has an intuition that it’s transformative, almost like the electronification of equity markets back in the day,” Horsley said, adding that the industry is still working through the different reasons tokenization could matter, from providing access to markets that are difficult to reach in some jurisdictions to expanding access to alternatives through fractional ownership. “All of them are advancing,” Horsley said. “I expect that capital markets, equities being a key one coming onchain, will be one of the most important and significant developments over the next two, three years.” The Bitwise co-founder pointed out that tokenization is part of a much wider expansion in onchain finance, with vaults, credit and capital markets as areas where act...