Tokenized Stocks Risk Digital Repeat of 1960s Wall St Paperwork Crisis, Fairmint CEO Warns

The 1960s Wall Street paperwork crisis, which forced the New York Stock Exchange to close on Wednesdays to address massive settlement failures, serves as a cautionary tale for the modern tokenized securities market. Fairmint CEO Thibauld Delanoue warns that current RWA development is suffering from extreme fragmentation, as various exchanges, SPVs, and proprietary ledgers maintain incompatible records of ownership. While tokenization changes the medium of asset representation, it does not inherently solve the coordination problems that historically plagued physical share certificates. Delanoue emphasizes that tokens are not equity themselves but rather representations that require robust, standardized infrastructure to maintain the same legal safeguards as traditional systems. The current rapid proliferation of siloed platforms risks creating a structural reconciliation crisis that could mirror the operational failures of the late 1960s. To avoid this, the industry must prioritize building shared standards and consensus frameworks over mere distribution. This perspective highlights that the long-term viability of tokenized stocks depends on aligning settlement rules and custodial structures across the entire market ecosystem.