MIAMI, FL — Kevin O’Leary says the tokenization boom on Wall Street is just hype until Congress finally gives the crypto industry the rules it’s been waiting for.
“Tokenization will never be adopted by institutional indexers. Neither will Bitcoin, which remains a marginal asset for the big guys,” O’Leary said at the Miami Consensus, arguing that big investors still view most digital assets as uninvestable without clear federal regulation.
Speaking at Consensus Miami 2026, the investor and “Shark Tank” personality argued that regulatory uncertainty still prevents large financial firms from fully adopting blockchain-based assets.
He said the turning point would only come when the United States establishes a formal legal framework for digital assets. “It must become globally compliant as part of the [Securities and Exchange Commission] with the passage of a bill,” he said. “When that happens, it’s going to change everything.”
The comments come as Wall Street firms increasingly experiment with tokenization – the process of turning assets such as stocks, bonds or funds into blockchain-based digital tokens that can be traded continuously and settled instantly. Proponents argue that the technology could modernize financial infrastructure by reducing settlement times and lowering costs.
But O’Leary said institutions still need legal certainty before committing significant capital.
He cited stablecoins as an example of how regulation can accelerate adoption. Referring to recent US legislative efforts, O’Leary said stablecoins were adopted “almost immediately” once policymakers passed the GENIUS Act.
“Instead of wasting three days, we transact in minutes at a fraction of the cost, with complete compliance and transparency,” he said, describing cross-border payments using stablecoins.
O’Leary also argued that institutional investors have significantly reduced their focus on crypto markets. “97% of the total value of the entire market is just BTC and ether (ETH),” he said, adding that many smaller tokens have been “slaughtered.”
He described a growing gap between speculative crypto assets and blockchain infrastructure with real enterprise adoption.
The biggest long-term opportunity remains finding a blockchain platform around which large companies standardize for applications such as logistics, contract management or inventory systems, according to O’Leary.
“You show me adoption on the platform becoming a moat,” he said.
The investor also linked the future of blockchain and AI to infrastructure in general, arguing that energy and data centers could ultimately prove more valuable than digital assets themselves.
“Power is more valuable than bitcoin,” O’Leary said.
