Raoul Pal: The endgame of tokenization isn't stocks on-chain, but "everything can be priced"

Raoul Pal reflects on his 2014 prediction that blockchain would become a global ownership ledger, noting that while the vision shifted from Bitcoin to programmable chains, the core thesis of tokenizing everything is now materializing. The RWA market has evolved from a theoretical concept into a functional infrastructure, with tokenized U.S. Treasury funds reaching $14.8 billion as of September 20. Major institutions including BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and JPMorgan are actively issuing these products, while firms like Robinhood and Kraken have introduced 24/7 tokenized equity trading. Regulatory progress has accelerated, with the SEC approving Nasdaq and NYSE rules for tokenized securities, and the DTCC facilitating the minting process. Pal argues that the current focus on trading existing assets like stocks is merely the first phase of a much larger shift toward a machine-readable economy. He posits that as AI agents become the primary economic participants, tokens will serve as essential information carriers for identity, contracts, and compute power. This transition represents a fundamental upgrade to global financial pipelines, promising faster settlement and broader access to capital markets.