IMF study finds tokenised stocks volatile and illiquid
The IMF's Global Financial Stability Report says tokenised US equities offer round-the-clock and fractional trading but remain far less liquid and more volatile than conventional shares.
Why it matters: The IMF's findings set out both the demand for round-the-clock, fractional equity trading and the liquidity, legal and settlement gaps that regulators say must be closed before the market grows.
Key points
- More than half of tokenised stock trades happened outside regular US market hours, and about 80% were for less than one share.
- Tokenised equities were about 1.5 times as volatile as equivalent traditional shares, the IMF found.
- The tokenised real-world asset market was estimated at about $65bn as of 31 July, with tokenised equities at roughly $2.3bn.
Overnight moves in tokenised shares carried useful information: once US markets opened, more than 85% of that overnight movement was reflected in traditional counterparts within five minutes.
The IMF said the tokenised real-world asset market has grown rapidly, estimating it at about $65bn as of 31 July, with tokenised equities accounting for roughly $2.3bn.
Bullish, CoinDesk's parent company, introduced tokenised equity trading in August, and OKX and ICE filed plans this month for a round-the-clock venue.
What to watch: The IMF says legal rules on ownership, liquidity safeguards, system links and settlement arrangements need to be developed before the tokenised market grows much larger.
Live updates on NewsFeeds:MacroDesk editor: Keshav Aggarwal (accountable for this page; this summary was not edited by hand)
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