Miami Beach, FL — Kevin O’Leary says Wall Street’s tokenization boom is principally hype till Congress lastly provides the crypto trade the rules it has been ready for.
“Tokenization will never be adopted by institutional indexers, ever. Neither will bitcoin, which is still a fringe asset to the big guys,” O’Leary stated at Consensus in Miami, arguing that giant traders nonetheless see most digital property as uninvestable without clear federal regulation.
Speaking at Consensus Miami 2026, the investor and “Shark Tank” character argued that regulatory uncertainty is nonetheless stopping giant monetary companies from absolutely embracing blockchain-based property.
He stated the turning level will come solely when the U.S. establishes a proper authorized framework for digital property. “It has to become compliant globally within the [Securities and Exchange Commission] with an actual passage of a bill,” he stated. “When that occurs, it’s going to change everything.”
The feedback come as Wall Street companies more and more experiment with tokenization — the method of turning property like shares, bonds or funds into blockchain-based digital tokens that may commerce constantly and settle immediately. Advocates argue the expertise might modernize monetary infrastructure by lowering settlement instances and reducing prices.
But O’Leary stated establishments nonetheless want authorized certainty earlier than committing important capital.
He pointed to stablecoins for instance of how regulation can speed up adoption. Referring to latest U.S. legislative efforts, O’Leary stated stablecoins had been adopted “almost immediately” as soon as policymakers passed the GENIUS Act.
“Instead of wasting three days, we’re transacting in minutes at a fraction of the cost with full compliance and transparency,” he stated, describing cross-border funds utilizing stablecoins.
O’Leary additionally argued that institutional traders have sharply narrowed their focus inside crypto markets. “97% of the entire value of the entire market is simply BTC and ether (ETH),” he stated, including that many smaller tokens have been “slaughtered.”
He described a rising divide between speculative crypto property and blockchain infrastructure with actual enterprise adoption.
The largest long-term alternative stays discovering a blockchain platform that giant firms standardize round for functions akin to logistics, contract administration or stock techniques, in accordance with O’Leary.
“You show me the adoption onto the platform that becomes a moat,” he stated.
The investor additionally tied the way forward for blockchain and AI to infrastructure extra broadly, arguing that power and information facilities could in the end show extra precious than the digital property themselves.
“Power is more valuable than bitcoin,” O’Leary stated.
