Bitwise CEO Discusses ‘Non-Obvious’ Tokenization Revolution

Hunter Horsley, CEO of Bitwise, one of the largest cryptocurrency fund managers, has delved into tokenization and how it might revolutionize equity markets in a non-obvious way.

Horsley believes that views on tokenization value have mostly leaned toward the demand side of things, as the technology has the possibility of democratizing access to investments that general audiences would not have reached using traditional methods.

And while there is value there, he believes that the “revolution” is in the supply side of things, where tech would enable companies to enter these markets. Horsley exemplified this though by bringing the names of Airbnb, Uber, and Youtube, companies that eased access for their target audiences to services that had before been limited to elites.

Horsley estimated that while 4,600 companies in the U.S. can access public equity markets, over 200,000 companies were making more than $10 million in revenue, potentially prompting them to go public.

For Horsley, the volumes and scale of the possible transition to a token-based model are huge.

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He stressed:

I think for these companies — the supply side — tokenization can be a revolutionary new possibility. And, for the demand side, much like the YouTube video or Airbnb listing you could never have accessed otherwise, will present exciting new possibilities.

“This isn’t the only category of tokenization that may matter, but I think it’s potentially a revolutionary one,” Horsley concluded.

While there has been limited introduction of tokenization in equity markets in the U.S. due to potential regulatory hurdles, its implementation might be prepared to explode as President-elect Trump’s crypto-friendly administration takes office.

It remains to be seen if tokenization will be considered in the upcoming regulatory changes spearheaded by the upcoming administration in the crypto field.