Galaxy Digital is moving closer to a U.S. stock market listing after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved its registration statement tied to a corporate reorganization.

The crypto and AI infrastructure firm, currently listed in the Toronto Stock Exchange, aims to shift its home base from the Cayman Islands to Delaware and list shares on the Nasdaq as “GLXY.” The firm’s expansion into the U.S. market comes as institutional demand for regulated crypto products continues to grow.

The company has scheduled a shareholder vote on the reorganization for May 9. The firm is expected to list shortly afterward. CEO Mike Novogratz called the registration effectiveness “an important milestone” in the firm’s bid to expand its reach.

Galaxy provides institutional services in crypto trading, asset management, and tokenization. It also invests in and operates data centers that power AI and high-performance computing.

Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.

The market for tokenized financial instruments, or real-world assets (RWAs), could reach $18.9 trillion by 2033 as the technology’s growth is nearing a «tipping point,» according to a joint report on Monday by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) by payments-focused digital asset infrastructure firm Ripple.

That would mean an average 53% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), taking the middle ground between the report’s conservative scenario of $12 trillion in tokenized assets in the next eight years and a more optimistic $23.4 trillion projection.

Tokenization is the process of using blockchain rails to record ownership and move assets—securities, commodities, real estate. It’s a red-hot sector in crypto, with several global traditional financial firms pursuing tokenization to achieve efficiency gains, faster and cheaper settlements and around-the-clock transactions. JPMorgan’s Kinexys platform has already processed more than $1.5 trillion in tokenized transactions, with over $2 billion in daily volume. BlackRock’s tokenized U.S. dollar money market fund (BUIDL), issued with tokenization firm Securitize, nears $2 billion in assets under management and is increasingly being used in decentralized finance (DeFi).

“[The] technology is ready, regulation is evolving, and foundational use cases are in the market,” said Martijn Siebrand, Digital Assets Program Manager at ABN AMRO, in the report.

The report highlighted tokenized government bonds, U.S. Treasuries, as an early success, allowing corporate treasurers seamlessly shift idle cash into tokenized short-term government bonds from digital wallets without any intermediaries, managing liquidity in real time and around the clock.

Private credit is another sector drawing attention, opening access to traditionally opaque and illiquid markets while offering investors clearer pricing and fractional ownership. Similarly, carbon markets are flagged as fertile ground, where blockchain-based registries could enhance transparency and traceability of emissions credits.

Key challenges still linger

Despite the growth, the report identified five key barriers for broader adoption: fragmented infrastructure, limited interoperability across platforms, uneven regulatory progress, inconsistent custody frameworks, and lack of smart contract standardization. Most tokenized assets today settle in isolation, with off-chain cash legs limiting efficiency gains. Tokenized asset markets struggle to unlock secondary liquidity without shared delivery-versus-payment (DvP) standards.

Regulatory clarity varies significantly by region. Switzerland, the EU, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates have developed comprehensive legal frameworks for tokenized securities and infrastructure, while major markets like India and China remain restrictive or undefined. This uneven progress complicates cross-border operations and forces firms to tailor infrastructure market-by-market.

Despite these headwinds, early adopters are expanding fast. The report identifies three phases of tokenization: low-risk adoption of familiar instruments like bonds and funds; expansion into complex products such as private credit and real estate; and full market transformation, including illiquid assets like infrastructure and private equity. Most firms are currently in the first or second phase, with scalability hinging on regulatory alignment and infrastructure maturity.

Tokenization can unlock meaningful savings for processes such as bond issuances, real estate fund tokenization and collateral management, driving further growth, the report noted.

Cost is becoming less of a constraint for firms, the report said. Focused tokenization projects can now launch for under $2 million, while end-to-end integrations—covering issuance, custody, compliance, and trading—can cost up to $100 million for large institutions.

However, without industry-wide coordinated action, the same silos and fragmentation tokenization seeks to eliminate could reemerge in digital form, said in the report Jorgen Ouaknine, global head of innovation and digital assets at Euroclear, a global financial market infrastructure provider.

Pierre Rochard, who calls himself a “bitcoin maximalist OG,” first discovered Bitcoin in 2012 while studying at UT Austin. With interests in Austrian economics and open-source software, he was “captivated” by bitcoin as the intersection of both. He became an early thought leader, co-founding the Satoshi Nakamoto Institute to house foundational writings and cypherpunk philosophy.

Across roles at BitPay, Kraken, and most recently Riot Platforms (RIOT), his work has spanned bitcoin infrastructure and advocacy. At Riot, he led responses to environmental criticisms, including a viral parody video that “put the critics on the defensive” and reframed the debate around mining and value creation.

Pierre Rochard is a speaker at Consensus 2025, in Toronto, May 14-16. Get your pass here.

“Critics think mining is wasteful because they don’t believe bitcoin has value,” Rochard said. “But it’s about monetary sovereignty — the ability to control your own money.”

Now, with The Bitcoin Bond Company, he is taking on the next frontier: unlocking bitcoin for fixed-income investors.

Unlike Michael Saylor’s long-only strategy, Rochard wants to build “bankruptcy-remote, bitcoin-only structures” with clear life-cycles and risk-tranching. The idea is to make Bitcoin more palatable to traditional credit allocators.

His goal? Acquire $1 trillion in bitcoin over the next 21 years — market conditions permitting.

On the price cycle, Rochard believes the four-year halving model is losing relevance for price prediction purposes. “Bitcoin’s CAGR is now tied to interest rates,” he said, noting its shift toward becoming a global macro asset. “Higher Fed rates pull capital out of Bitcoin — that’s what slows adoption.”

While education remains a major hurdle, he’s optimistic. “Ten years ago, this idea was laughed off. Today, Bitcoin-backed credit products are inevitable.”

At Consensus 2025, Pierre is focused on accelerating that education, especially among institutions looking to diversify beyond real estate and equities.

Rochard was also clear-eyed about the risks and hurdles in bitcoin adoption. “The biggest challenge is education,” he emphasized. “Most investors have never seen a fixed-income product backed purely by bitcoin. They’re used to real estate or corporate debt — this is a new asset class for them.”

When asked about concerns like low transaction fees or empty blocks in 2025, Rochard pushed back. “People worry about low fees, but that assumes a static system. If there’s ever an attack or censorship, fees skyrocket — and miners spin up. It’s anti-fragile by design.”

Ultimately, Rochard’s pitch is simple: “Bitcoin is no longer a fringe experiment. It’s a core monetary technology — and it’s time the credit markets caught up.”

Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.