Robinhood seen as key beneficiary; Ethereum, Solana also in focus

Tokenization expansion gains tailwind from deregulation, accelerating RWA adoption

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The spread of AI agent-based finance is opening a new paradigm for digital asset investment, according to a market analysis, which found that blockchain's role as the infrastructure underpinning AI agents' financial activities could drive a broader shift toward utility-based investing.

Research firm Citrinitas said in a recent report, cited by Bloomberg on Friday (local time), that the convergence of AI agent-based finance and blockchain has ushered in "a new paradigm for fundamental investing in digital assets."

Citrinitas argued that the financial infrastructure the blockchain industry has built over the past 15 years is well-suited to the age of AI agents, highlighting its ability to execute transactions based on preset conditions, manage assets and process payments in one place, and operate around the clock.

Among listed companies expected to benefit, the firm named Robinhood, Coinbase Global, Bullish and Securitize. It also flagged digital assets including Ethereum and Solana, as well as stablecoin issuers Circle and Ethena.

The regulatory environment is also shifting in favor of tokenization, the report said. Just days after the CLARITY Act — a digital asset market structure bill — failed in the US Congress last month, the Securities and Exchange Commission granted a five-year regulatory exemption allowing trading platforms that meet certain requirements to trade tokenized US equities on-chain.

Real-world asset tokenization, or RWA, has long been cited as one of blockchain's most promising use cases. Major Wall Street firms including BlackRock are already pursuing projects to tokenize some of their assets.

Citrinitas identified crude oil-linked derivatives trading on Hyperliquid during the Iran conflict as a turning point for RWA adoption. Hyperliquid, a blockchain-based decentralized finance exchange, was one of the few platforms where those products could be traded on weekends.

"RWA adoption has accelerated since then," Citrinitas said, adding that "sweeping changes have begun to unfold across the broader digital asset market over the past month, signaling that the market has entered an inflection point."

Citrinitas has about 260,000 Substack subscribers. Its founder, James Van Straten, drew attention earlier this year with a report titled "The 2028 Global Intelligence Crisis," which envisioned a future in which AI rapidly displaces white-collar jobs faster than the economy can absorb the shock.

Bloomberg reported in September that he had sold Citrinitas to SemiAnalysis, a semiconductor and AI research firm.


kyoung@heraldcorp.com