Tom Lee: Past bull markets relied on NFTs and stablecoins, but this crypto cycle is betting on asset tokenization

Odaily reports that Tom Lee, Chairman of Bitmine, stated that the core driver of this crypto bull market may be stronger than previous cycles, because the potential market size brought by tokenization far exceeds the retail narratives of the past.

Tom Lee said that participants in the 2016 to 2017 bull market were mainly retail investors; the 2019 to 2021 cycle was mainly driven by NFTs and was likewise dominated by the retail market; while last year was a phase of rapid stablecoin development. He believes the greater driver now is real-world assets (RWA) and traditional financial assets moving on-chain. Global liquid assets total about $200 trillion, of which the three major asset classes—equities, bonds, and credit—amount to about $160 trillion. If 10% of these assets are brought on-chain, that would correspond to a market size of about $16 trillion.

Tom Lee further stated that for every $1 of assets tokenized or locked in an L1 blockchain ecosystem, it typically creates about $1 of value for that blockchain.