Tokenization Could Make Mobile Investing as Easy as Sending a Payment

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has argued that blockchain-based tokenization could make investing from a mobile phone as simple and instant as sending a payment, a vision that, if realized, would open financial markets to billions of people currently locked out by settlement delays, high minimums, and brokerage friction.

The statement came in Fink’s 2026 annual chairman’s letter, published this week. Fink drew a direct comparison between the speed and accessibility of modern payment apps and the outdated infrastructure that still governs most investment transactions.

$11.6 万亿

贝莱德管理资产规模（AUM），使其成为全球最大资产管理公司。CEO 拉里·芬克表示，代币化技术有望让普通手机用户像日常支付一样轻松参与投资。

Fink’s core argument is that the current financial system forces a wedge between saving and investing. Sending money through Venmo or PayPal settles in seconds. Buying a share of a mutual fund or a bond involves T+1 settlement at best, account minimums, intermediary fees, and often a brokerage relationship that many people globally do not have.

Tokenization, in Fink’s framing, collapses that gap. By representing ownership of assets as tokens on a blockchain, transactions can settle near-instantly, fractional ownership becomes native, and the infrastructure cost drops dramatically. He compared the current moment in tokenization to 1996 in the internet’s evolution, suggesting the technology is past the experimental phase but has not yet reached mass adoption.

BlackRock’s Tokenization Footprint: From BUIDL to Broader Ambitions

Fink’s letter is not abstract theorizing. BlackRock has already committed capital to tokenized products. The firm’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund, known as BUIDL, operates on Ethereum and has become one of the largest tokenized money market funds in existence.

$500M+

贝莱德 BUIDL（USD 机构数字流动性基金）链上代币化资产规模，已成为以太坊上最大的代币化货币市场基金，是芬克愿景的现实印证。

BUIDL was launched in partnership with Securitize, a tokenization platform that handles the on-chain issuance and compliance layer. The fund invests in short-duration U.S. Treasury instruments and distributes yield to token holders, effectively bringing money market returns on-chain.

The fund’s growth from launch to over $500 million in assets under management signals institutional demand for tokenized yield products. It also demonstrates that the regulatory and custodial infrastructure for these products, at least at the institutional level, already exists.

In his letter, Fink signaled that tokenization at BlackRock will extend beyond money market funds into broader asset classes, including bonds and equities. The timeline for those products remains unclear, but the direction is explicit.

The Competitive Landscape: TradFi and Crypto-Native Players Race to Tokenize

BlackRock is not building in isolation. The tokenized real-world asset (RWA) sector has attracted significant institutional and crypto-native capital over the past 18 months, with multiple major financial institutions now operating live tokenized products.

Franklin Templeton launched its BENJI tokenized money market fund, which operates on both Stellar and Polygon, making it one of the first traditional asset managers to go multi-chain. JPMorgan’s Onyx platform has processed tokenized repo transactions and explored tokenized deposits for institutional clients.

On the crypto-native side, protocols like Ondo Finance have built tokenized U.S. Treasury products accessible to on-chain users, bridging the gap between DeFi yield strategies and traditional fixed-income instruments. Maple Finance and similar platforms have pursued tokenized credit products targeting institutional borrowers. Venture capital interest in blockchain infrastructure continues to grow, as seen in recent moves like Catapult’s funding round backed by KuCoin Ventures.

The total tokenized RWA market has grown substantially. Research from Boston Consulting Group and others has projected the tokenized asset market could reach $16 trillion by 2030, a figure Fink’s letter implicitly supports by framing tokenization as an infrastructure shift comparable to the early internet.

Regulatory developments are shaping the pace. The SEC has signaled evolving positions on digital asset custody and the classification of tokenized securities. The OCC has issued guidance permitting national banks to engage with certain blockchain-based services. These moves, while incremental, are removing barriers that previously kept traditional institutions on the sidelines.

What Tokenized Investing Actually Looks Like on a Phone Today

Fink’s analogy to payment apps is compelling, but the current reality of tokenized investing is still far from that level of simplicity. The gap between vision and user experience remains significant.

Today, accessing tokenized assets typically requires a self-custodial wallet or an account on a platform like Coinbase. Users must navigate gas fees, wallet management, and in many cases, accredited investor requirements. BlackRock’s BUIDL fund, for instance, is currently restricted to institutional investors, not retail users.

The comparison Fink draws is instructive precisely because of how stark the contrast is. Sending $50 through a payment app takes seconds, requires no specialized knowledge, and costs nothing. Investing $50 in a tokenized Treasury product today requires understanding wallet infrastructure, bridging assets between chains, and paying transaction fees that may exceed the investment itself.

What tokenization does remove is the back-end settlement friction. Traditional securities settle on a T+1 cycle (recently reduced from T+2). Tokenized assets can settle in minutes or seconds. Fractional ownership is native to tokens, meaning minimum investment thresholds drop to near zero. And because blockchain rails are global by default, geographic barriers to market access diminish.

The remaining barriers are regulatory and infrastructural, not technological. KYC/AML requirements, custody regulations, and securities classification rules still govern who can access what. Until those frameworks evolve to accommodate retail tokenized investing, Fink’s vision remains aspirational for everyday users. In the broader digital asset ecosystem, developments like Polymarket’s expansion into new market categories illustrate how blockchain-based financial products are gradually reaching wider audiences.

Milestones That Will Test Fink’s Prediction

Rather than speculating about whether Fink’s vision will materialize, readers can track specific signals that would confirm or contradict the trajectory he describes.

First, watch BlackRock’s product pipeline. If the firm launches tokenized equity or bond funds accessible to accredited investors (a step below full retail access) within 2026, it would validate that the internal infrastructure and regulatory approvals are progressing. Any expansion of BUIDL to additional chains or jurisdictions would similarly signal momentum.

Second, SEC rulemaking on tokenized securities will be a critical gating factor. The commission’s approach to digital asset custody rules, broker-dealer requirements for tokenized products, and the classification of on-chain fund shares will determine how quickly retail access becomes legally viable in the United States.

Third, the total tokenized RWA market size serves as a barometer. Industry projections, including the widely cited $16 trillion by 2030 forecast from BCG, provide a benchmark. If tokenized asset AUM doubles or triples from current levels within the next 12 months, the infrastructure buildout is accelerating. If growth plateaus, the friction Fink described may be harder to eliminate than anticipated.

For Fink’s specific prediction to become reality, three conditions would need to converge within two to three years: regulatory frameworks that permit retail access to tokenized securities, mobile wallet experiences that abstract away blockchain complexity, and sufficient liquidity in tokenized markets to support meaningful investment activity. Meanwhile, institutional capital flows, such as large on-chain movements tracked across major exchanges, continue to signal growing comfort with blockchain-based financial infrastructure.

BlackRock’s scale, over $11.6 trillion in AUM, means its tokenization moves carry weight far beyond any single product launch. When the world’s largest asset manager compares a technology to the 1996 internet, the signal is not just about conviction. It is about capital allocation. The question is no longer whether tokenized investing will exist, but how quickly the user experience catches up to the infrastructure.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency and digital asset markets carry significant risk. Always do your own research before making decisions.