Tokenization of the market, from stocks to bonds to real estate is coming, says BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, if we can solve one problem
Bitwise Spot Bitcoin ETF (BITB) signage on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, US, on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024, with trading commencing on the first US exchange-traded funds that invest directly in the biggest cryptocurrency.
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If the vision of Larry Fink — CEO of BlackRock, the world’s biggest money manager — becomes reality, all assets from stocks to bonds to real estate and more would be tradable online, on a blockchain.
“Every asset — can be tokenized,” Fink wrote in his recent annual letter to investors.
Unlike traditional paper certificates signifying financial ownership, tokens live securely on a blockchain, enabling instant buying, selling, and transfers without paperwork or waiting — “much like a digital deed,” he wrote.
Fink says it would be nothing short of a “revolution” for investing. Think 24-hour markets and a trading settlement process that can be compacted down into seconds from a process that today can still take days, with billions of dollars reinvested immediately back into the economy.
But there’s one big problem, one technology challenge that stands in the way: the lack of a coordinated digital identity verification system.
While technology experts say Fink’s idea isn’t improbable, they agree that there are cybersecurity challenges ahead in making it work.
Verifying asset owners in world of AI deep fakes
Today, it’s not easy to verify online that the person you are interacting with is that person because of the prevalence of AI deepfakes and sophisticated cybercriminals, according to Christina Hulka, executive director of the Secure Technology Alliance, an organization focused on identity, access and payments. As a result, having a unified verification system would be useful because there would be cryptographic validation that people are who they say they are.
“The [financial services] industry is focused on how to build a zero-trust framework for identification. You don’t trust anything until it’s verified,” Hulka said. “The challenge is getting everyone together about which technology to use that makes it as simple and as seamless for the consumer as possible,” she added.
It’s hard to say precisely how a broad-based digital verification system would work but to support a fully tokenized financial structure, a system would, at a minimum, need to meet stringent security requirements, particularly those tied to financial regulations like the Know Your Customer rule and anti-money laundering rules, according to Zulfikar Ramzan, chief technology officer at Point Wild, a cybersecurity company.
At the same time, the system would need to be low friction and quick. There’s no shortage of technical tools today, especially from the field of cryptography, that can effectively bind a digital identity to a transaction, Ramzan said. “Fifteen to 20 years ago, this conversation would have been a non-starter,” he added.
There have been some successes with programs like this across the globe, according to Ramzan. India’s Aadhaar system is an example of a digital identity framework at a national scale. It enables most of the population to authenticate transactions via mobile devices, and it’s integrated across both public and private services. Estonia has an e-ID system that allows citizens to do everything from banking to voting online. Singapore and the UAE have also implemented strong national identity programs tied to mobile infrastructure and digital services. “While these systems differ in how they handle issues like privacy, they all share a key trait: centralized government leadership that drove standardization and adoption,” Ramzan said.
Centralized personal data is a big target for cybercriminals
While a centralized system solves one challenge, the storage of personally identifiable information and biometrics data is a security risk, said David Mattei, a strategic advisor in the fraud and AML practice at Datos Insights, which works with financial services, insurance and retail technology companies.
Notably, there have been reports of data stolen from India’s Aadhaar system. And last year, El Salvador’s government had the personal data of 80% of its citizens stolen from a centralized, government-managed citizen identity system. “A lot of security experts do not advocate having a centralized security system because it’s kind of like the pot at the end of the rainbow that every fraudster is trying to get his hands on,” Mattei said.
In the U.S., there’s a long-standing preference for decentralized systems for identity. On mobile devices, Face ID and Fingerprint ID are done not by centralizing all of that data in one spot at Apple or Google, but by storing the data in a secure module on each mobile device. “This makes it much harder, if not impossible, for fraudsters to steal that data en masse,” Mattei said.
Larry Fink, chief executive officer of BlackRock Inc., at the Berlin Global Dialogue in Berlin, Germany, on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024.
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Digital driver’s licenses offer a cautionary tale
It would take a significant coordinated effort to come up with a national identity system used for identity verification.
Identity systems in the U.S. today are fragmented, Ramzan said, giving the example of state departments of motor vehicles. “To move forward, we will either need a cohesive national strategy or a way to better coordinate identity across the state and federal levels,” he said.
That’s not an easy task. Take, for example, the effort many states are making to adopt digital driver’s licenses. About a quarter of states today, including Utah, Maryland, Virginia and New York, issue mobile driver’s licenses, according to mDLConnection, an online resource from the Secure Technology Alliance. Other states have pilot programs in effect, have enacted legislation or are studying the issue. But this undertaking is quite ambitious and has been underway for several years.
To implement a national identity verification system would be a “massive undertaking and would require just about every company that does business online to adopt a government standard for identity verification and authentication,” Mattei said.
Competitive forces are another issue to contend with. “There is an ecosystem of vendors who offer identity verification and authentication solutions that would not want a centralized system for fear of going out of business,” Mattei said.
There are also significant data privacy hurdles to overcome. States and the federal government would need to coordinate to resolve governance issues, and this might prompt “big brother” concerns about the extent to which the federal government could monitor the activities of its citizens.
Many people have “a bit of an allergic reaction” when anything resembling a national ID comes up, Ramzan said.
Fink has been pushing the SEC to look at issue
The idea is not a brand new one for Fink. At Davos earlier this year, he told CNBC that he wanted the SEC “to rapidly expand the tokenization of stocks and bonds.”
There’s BlackRock self-interest at work, and potential cost savings for the firm and many others, which Fink has spoken about. In recent years, BlackRock has been dragged into political battles, and lawsuits, over its voting of a massive amount of shares held in its funds on ESG issues. “We’d never have to vote on a proxy vote anymore,” Fink told CNBC at Davos, referring to “the tax on BlackRock.”
“Every owner would be notified of a vote,” he said, adding that it would bring down the cost of ownership of stocks and bonds.
It is clear from Fink’s decision to give this issue prominent placement in his annual letter — even if it came in third in the order of issues he covered behind both the politics of protectionism and the growing role of private markets — that he isn’t letting up. And what’s needed to make this a reality, he contends, is a new digital identity verification system. The letter is short on details, and BlackRock declined to elaborate, but, at least on the surface, the solution for Fink is clear. “If we’re serious about building an efficient and accessible financial system, championing tokenization alone won’t suffice. We must solve digital verification, too,” he wrote.
Blockchain continues to evolve and people are learning to understand it better. Accordingly, there are initiatives underway to think about how the U.S. can achieve a broad-based identity verification system, Hulka said. There are technical ways to do it, but finding the right way that works for the country is more of a challenge since it has to be interoperable. “The goal is to get to a point where there is one way to verify identity across multiple services,” she said.
Eventually, there will be a tipping point for the financial services industry where it becomes a business imperative, Hulka said. “The question is when, of course.”
Russell Westbrook, #4 of the Denver Nuggets, dribbles the ball during the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder during Round 2, Game 1 of the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on May 5, 2025.
Zach Beeker | National Basketball Association | Getty Images
National Basketball Association superstar Russell Westbrook is taking a shot off the court at simplifying funeral planning with artificial intelligence.
The famed Denver Nuggets point guard on Wednesday announced the launch of Eazewell, a startup that uses AI technology to streamline the process for coordinating funerals. Westbrook founded the venture with former Charlotte Hornets star Kemba Walker and childhood friend Donnell Beverly Jr., who serves as president of Russell Westbrook Enterprises and CEO and co-founder of Eazewell.
“My whole career, on and off the court, has been about stepping up decisively in the moments that matter most,” Westbrook wrote in a statement to CNBC. Westbrook and the Nuggets are currently facing the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Western Conference semifinals. “Eazewell is exactly that — a decisive solution to a very real problem.”
The Los Angeles-based company uses AI to curate funeral options catered to each user’s budgets and preferences. The platform assists with paperwork, budget planning, invitations and overlooked tasks such as canceling a deceased loved one’s utility bills and social media accounts. Eazewell currently has 11 employees and has already tested its beta platform with more than 1,000 families.
Eazewell has not disclosed funding but has revenue agreements with partner services. The startup is also working on partnerships with finance and life insurance companies in the space. The service is free to use and does not have an ads component “at this stage,” a company spokesperson said.
“We’re trying to take the weight off people’s shoulders as much as we can, and make this process so much easier for people,” Walker told CNBC in a phone interview. Walker played college basketball with Beverly at the University of Connecticut.
From left to right: Donnell Beverly Jr., Kemba Walker, Donnell Beverly (Donnell’s dad, now deceased) and Russell Westbrook at Donnell’s mom’s funeral.
Donnell Beverly Jr.
Learning from an early loss
Eazewell traces its origins to Westbrook and Beverly’s high school days, when their friend and basketball teammate Khelcey Barrs III passed away unexpectedly from an enlarged heart. Westbrook commemorates Barrs to this day by wearing a bracelet with the initials “KB3” in every NBA game he plays and on his signature Jordan Why Not Zer0.6 “Khelcey Barrs” shoe.
“It’s a reminder that life can change in an instant,” Westbrook said. “You don’t get to choose the moment, but you do get to choose how you respond.”
The experience left a lasting effect on the two friends, Beverly said, but it wasn’t until the death of Beverly’s parents that he experienced funeral planning hurdles firsthand. Beverly said the experience was “messy” and “grueling.”
Disillusioned and frustrated by the process after the death of his mother and father in 2016 and 2023, respectively, Beverly turned to his close friends to come up with the solution that became Eazewell.
“It just seems like the perfect time to really turn our shared pain into purpose,” Beverly said.
Kemba Walker, then #15 of the Charlotte Hornets, in action against the Miami Heat at American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida, on March 17, 2019.
Mark Brown | Getty Images
One of Eazewell’s most innovative features is its voice-activated AI agent that can gather cost quotes and call funeral homes on a user’s behalf.
Recent advancements in AI have only recently made it possible to automate tasks and create agents that can manage these jobs in an empathetic and compassionate manner, said Viviane Ghaderi, Eazewell’s tech chief and a former Amazon executive.
Stephen Stokols, an Eazewell investor and CEO of Tru Skye Ventures, an early-stage sports technology and wellness venture firm, said these “transformational” AI advancements helping bring the funeral industry out of the “dark ages” initially drew him to the project.
Walker said he hopes Eazewell can offer users the tools to navigate a topic that is not taught in school or early life.
“We know how important it is to have someone by your side to help with the details that come after a loss,” Westbrook said.
WATCH: The AI boom needs to stay in the U.S., says Energy Capital’s Doug Kimmelman
Illustration of the China and U.S. flag on a central processing unit.
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Uncertainty — that was the theme during earnings season for the world’s biggest semiconductor firms which are unclear on demand for their products as a result of changing U.S. tariff policy and export restrictions that have been place on China.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs took effect in April though they were paused shortly after. The White House also exempted certain tech products such as smartphones and chips. However, the U.S. is investigating imports of semiconductor technology which could come under new duties.
Meanwhile, Washington last month added more semiconductor products from Nvidia and AMD to a list of items that are restricted for export to China, building on Biden-era curbs.
The changing tariff and China policy has caused consternation among executives at the world’s largest chip companies with visible impacts on their busiensses already.
AMD on Tuesday said that it expects $1.5 billion in lost revenue thorugh the end of its fiscal year as a result of AI chip export curbs to China, despite topping earnings estimates for the first quarter.
Super Micro issued disappointing guidance on Tuesday citing tariff and macroeconomic uncertainty. The company said it would not provide guidance for its fiscal year 2026 until “visibility” becomes clearer. The stock fell 4% in premarket trade.
And Marvell said on Tuesday that it is postponing its previously scheduled investor day from June 10 to a “future date in calendar 2026.” Shares of the firm fell 4.4% in premarket trade.
“We have decided to postpone our investor day given the current uncertain macroeconomic environment,” Matt Murphy, CEO of Marvell, said in a statement.
Clarity in ‘short supply’
Semiconductor stocks have been under pressure this year amid the growing macroeconomic uncertainty and trade policies from the U.S. There is also concern about the demand for AI products even as technology giants like Microsoft and Amazon continue to commit billions of dollars to build data centers.
The VanEck Semiconductor ETF, a basket of chip stocks, is down nearly 12% this year.
And it’s not just U.S. companies that are feeling the heat. Samsung said last month that “demand volatiltiy is expected to be quite high” as a result of tariff policy changes and macroeconomic uncertainty.
“Due to the rapid changes in policies and geopolitical tensions among major countries, it’s difficult to accurately predict the business impact of tariffs and countermeasures,” a Samsung executive said on the earnings call.
“There are a lot of uncertainties ahead of us.”
Samsung is one of the world’s largest memory chipmakers.
“The semiconductor sector is grappling with a complex mix of demand signals and geopolitical headwinds,” Ben Barringer, global technology analyst at Quilter Cheviot, told CNBC by email.
Barringer said that Marvell’s decision to postpone its investor day “adds a layer of uncertainty at a time when clarity is in short supply,” while Super Micro’s weak outlook also “raised eyebrows.”
“With macro uncertainty and export restrictions still looming large, the path ahead for chipmakers remains bumpy, even as underlying demand holds up in certain areas,” Barringer added.
Nvidia CEO: ‘Let us go race’
The U.S. chip industry has sought to show that it is leading in technology versus China and that it should be allowed to sell more product there.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC on Tuesday that China will likely be a $50 billion artificial intelligence market in two-to-three years.
“It would be a tremendous loss not to be able to address it as an American company. It’s going to bring back revenues, it’s going to bring back taxes, it’s going to create lots of jobs here in the United States,” Huang said.
For the last few years, Washington under both Biden and Trump, have looked to use export restrictions to restrict China’s access to American technology in areas such as AI and semiconductors. This has prompted Chinese firms to ramp up focus on homegrown technology with companies like Huawei looking to create viable competing products to the likes of Nvidia.
Chinese companies such as DeepSeek and Alibaba have also been able to launch high-performing AI models.
Nvidia’s Huang said there is competition in AI right now but American firms should be able to compete with China.
“The United States has to recognize that we are not the only country in that race, that we have competitors. We are confident people, we are a confident country we have confident companies, we are not afraid of a race. We look forward to a race. Just let us go race,” Huang told CNBC.
“And so I think that now is the time when the United States needs to realize that we need to put the pedal to the metal … we’ve just got to go for it. Waiting around, talking about it, trying to hold people back is not necessarily the best move. The best move is let American do American, let us go after it and win it.”
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