Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, posted a bold prediction on X on Sep. 7: "IPOs will move on chain." An IPO, or initial p
Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, posted a bold prediction on X on Sep. 7: "IPOs will move on chain."
An IPO, or initial public offering, is the process through which a private company sells shares to the public for the first time, typically through a stock exchange.
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Moving that process onchain would mean issuing and settling those shares on a blockchain, a shared digital ledger, rather than through the traditional system of underwriters, transfer agents and clearinghouses that can take days to finalize trades.
Zhao did not name specific projects or outline any plans for Binance. But the post landed at a moment when the infrastructure for onchain securities is already being built.
IPOs will move on chain.
— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) September 8, 2026
Binance's own tokenized stock product, bStocks, crossed $30 billion in cumulative trading volume within three months of launch.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently proposed rule changes for transfer agents to reflect the use of blockchain in securities operations.
Securitize, a tokenization platform backed by BlackRock, partnered with Cantor Fitzgerald to let public companies run IPOs and follow-on offerings using tokenized securities.
Ondo Finance, another tokenization platform, already lists tokenized versions of U.S.-listed stocks on day one of trading across multiple blockchain networks. The appeal for issuers is straightforward: onchain IPOs could enable global retail participation, near-instant settlement, round-the-clock availability and lower dependence on traditional intermediaries.
This is not the first time Zhao has pushed the tokenization thesis. He has previously urged governments to tokenize national stock markets and issue sovereign stablecoins.
His latest post follows the same logic, that blockchain-based rails can handle functions traditional finance currently monopolizes, starting with the most foundational one: how companies go public.
