Barry Silbert says he made a market prophecy back in 2011 about tokenization and round-the-clock trading. Now, he argues, that prediction is playing out through real-world asset (RWA) tokenization and 24/7 markets, and he believes the shift is transforming Wall Street.
Silbert, a longtime figure in digital assets, didn't offer new details about the original 2011 call or provide a timeline for how the transformation will unfold. But his central claim is direct: the infrastructure he envisioned more than a decade ago is now being built, and the financial industry is changing because of it.
What Silbert says he saw coming in 2011
According to Silbert, the combination of tokenization and always-on trading wasn't a fringe idea even then. He says he predicted that markets would eventually move toward digitized assets that trade continuously, rather than through the traditional Monday-to-Friday, market-hours model.
That prediction, he argues, is no longer theoretical. RWA tokenization — putting ownership of real-world assets like funds, commodities, or private credit onto blockchain rails — has moved from conference panels to actual products. And 24/7 trading, once a crypto-only quirk, is being discussed and tested in more traditional corners of finance.
How tokenization and 24/7 markets are changing the Street
Silbert's argument rests on two trends he says are converging. The first is RWA tokenization, which lets issuers represent assets as digital tokens that can be transferred and settled on-chain. The second is the push toward continuous trading, which would let investors react to news and events at any hour rather than waiting for an exchange to open.
Together, those changes could alter how assets are issued, traded, and settled. Tokenization could reduce the role of intermediaries and speed up settlement, while 24/7 trading could change how liquidity is managed and how market hours are defined. That's the transformation Silbert says is underway.
He didn't lay out specific adoption numbers, name the companies leading the charge, or give a date when the shift will be complete. His point is more about direction: the market is moving toward the model he says he described in 2011.
Why the timing of his claim matters
Silbert's comments land as RWA tokenization has become one of the more active areas in digital assets. Banks, asset managers, and crypto-native firms have been experimenting with tokenized versions of traditional instruments. At the same time, the idea of 24/7 trading has gained attention as crypto markets — which never close — have shown both the appeal and the risks of continuous operation.
Whether Silbert's 2011 prophecy was as precise as he now suggests is hard to verify from his remarks alone. He didn't release the original text or a dated record of the prediction. But his broader claim — that tokenization and 24/7 trading are changing Wall Street — is one that more market participants are taking seriously, even if they disagree on how fast it will happen.
What to watch next
The next test isn't rhetoric. It's whether tokenized real-world assets keep attracting capital and whether regulated venues move beyond pilot programs toward round-the-clock trading. Those two developments will show whether Silbert's 2011 call was early, or simply right on time.
For now, the market's direction is clear enough to keep the debate alive. What's still missing is a detailed scorecard: which assets get tokenized first, which platforms handle the trading, and how regulators respond when markets never sleep.
