Binance Research projects that crypto exchanges could channel $2 trillion in incremental capital and nearly 300 million new investors into global equity markets by 2031, positioning trading platforms as the next gateway to stock ownership.
The forecast frames this as a base case for how crypto platforms move beyond digital assets into equities.
Why Crypto Exchanges Are Chasing Equities
Binance Research laid out the projection in a new report. The bull scenario points to $5 trillion in annual equity inflows from crypto users within five years.
“This estimate is derived from a top-down model: beginning with the total global crypto user base, then applying exchange coverage, user eligibility, and adoption rates to estimate the number of active equity traders, before multiplying by average position size to estimate total capital deployment,” Binance said.
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The research points to a significant participation gap between the United States and the rest of the world. While about 62% of Americans own stocks either directly, through investment funds, or via retirement accounts. Meanwhile, equity ownership outside the US remains below 20% of the population.
According to Binance Research, this disparity represents one of the most pronounced structural imbalances in global finance. Despite being the world’s largest and most liquid equity market, US stocks remain largely inaccessible to many international investors, leaving substantial pools of capital underexposed to American equities.
Early data from Binance’s stock-trading offering appears to support that view. Nearly 93% of the platform’s initial stock-trading users came from emerging markets, where geographic constraints and limited access to brokerage services have historically restricted participation in global equity markets.
However, the projected growth remains far from guaranteed. Whether stock tokenization can unlock as much as $2 trillion in new capital will ultimately depend on regulatory developments, user adoption, and the broader expansion of tokenized equity markets.
