Citrini Research on Thursday published a 79-page report titled "Breaking the Wall" arguing that the biggest winners from Wall Street's push to move financial assets onto blockchains will be fee-collecting platforms and protocols — not bitcoin or ether.

The firm, which operates the most-followed Substack newsletter with more than 263,000 subscribers, said tokenization of stocks, bonds and loans will generate recurring revenue tied to trading, lending and settlement infrastructure.

"We can't assume that majors, primarily BTC and ETH, will make new ATHs on this," the report said. "Even if they do, there are better expressions."

What does the report argue?

Citrini contends that converting traditional securities into blockchain-native tokens creates a separate fee economy at the infrastructure layer. A tokenized share could serve as collateral inside a digital wallet or trade continuously across venues without a traditional brokerage, with recurring revenue attached to liquidity provision, custody, oracle data and stablecoin settlement.

Which public companies did it highlight?

• Securitize (SECZ), which maintains the legal link between onchain tokens and underlying securities.
• Coinbase and Robinhood, retail trading platforms with onchain infrastructure.
• Circle, USDC issuer, exposed to settlement demand.
• Figure Technology Solutions (FIGR), a tokenized credit platform.
• SoFi, positioned for stablecoin payment adoption.
• Bullish, the institutionally focused exchange acquiring registrar Equiniti and serving as CoinDesk's parent company.

Which crypto tokens did the basket favor?

Citrini said it was "actually more excited" about its token basket, framing it as broader exposure than the listed universe.

"If we're right that stocks, commodities and other financial assets are moving onchain, then eventually all of the financial products built around those assets should follow them," the report said.

Selections include:

• Aerodrome (AERO): decentralized exchange that could route tokenized stock swaps.
• Maple: institutional blockchain-based lending.
• Pendle (PENDLE): trades future yield on interest-bearing tokens.
• Ondo Finance: tokenized U.S. Treasuries, equity products and perpetual futures.
• Aave: lending protocol.
• Uniswap (UNI): decentralized trading venue.
• Ethena (ENA): synthetic dollar issuer expanding into payments.
• ether.fi (ETHFI): restaking and crypto-based financial services.
• Chainlink: oracle data network.
• LayerZero: cross-chain messaging infrastructure.
• Derive: onchain options protocol.

Where do derivatives fit in?

Citrini expects tokenized equities to drag derivatives volume onchain. The report cited perpetual futures venues Lighter (LIT) and Variational (VAR) as challengers to the dominant blockchain-based perps platform Hyperliquid (HYPE). Public-market exposure to HYPE runs through the Bitwise Hyperliquid ETF (BHYP).

What risks did the firm flag?

The report warned that onchain volume does not automatically translate into higher token prices, citing liquidity fragmentation across chains, security risks and the unresolved legal status of synthetic tokenized stocks. Investors, Citrini said, must trace how protocols earn revenue and whether token holders capture it.

Citrini's earlier AI research triggered a brief market selloff earlier this year. The tokenization thesis now faces a more procedural test: synthetic tokenized stocks, which mirror share prices without granting voting rights or beneficial ownership, remain legally untested in U.S. markets. Regulators and exchanges are still drafting frameworks that will decide which onchain venues collect the bulk of tokenization fee revenue.