In 2023, the average number of daily trades on the United States stock exchanges was 74 million. The volume topped $500 billion on most days. In February 2025, CME broke its own record with a staggering 67.1 million transactions in one day. On September 3rd, 2025, the NASDAQ reported 52 million trades in a single day—nearly half of what all Ethereum layer twos combined can handle.
With Wall Street embracing tokenization and trading apps like Robinhood (NASDAQ: HOOD) announcing their tokenized stock trading, it’s time to face an important question: Can any blockchain handle the transaction throughput required to make tokenization at scale a reality?
Popular public blockchains won’t cut it
I’ve said repeatedly that private blockchains are pointless. There’s no need to rehash that here; it’s enough to note that blockchains are databases, and having thousands of them is not different from having as many intranets or Oracle databases.
However, today’s popular blockchains can’t handle even a fraction of what the two big United States exchanges would require. That’s an objective statement. Ethereum can handle 20 transactions per second (TPS) on the base layer, and Solana can process a few thousand on a good day.
Even with its stitched-together network of layer 2 solutions, Ethereum can just about process 250 TPS. In June, all layer 2s combined processed 21 million transactions in one day, just shy of half of the trades on the NASDAQ yesterday.
The scary part is there’s no reason to believe Ethereum will get better, that its scaling roadmap will work, or that all the problems rollups and layer twos introduced can be solved. Failed transactions, bridge hacks, and fragmented liquidity will likely remain the norm as long as blockchains rely on layer 2 solutions and side chains.
So, if BlackRock (NASDAQ: BLK) boss Larry Fink is right and the tokenization of everything is upon us, what blockchain will underpin the new financial system?
What the right blockchain would look like
A public blockchain capable of underpinning a tokenized financial system would need to have a few key features:
First, it would need to scale to millions and eventually billions of TPS. It shouldn’t have a theoretical scaling limit.
Second, it should have a robust transaction layer and toolset. Smart contracts and token protocols are a must, and they need to work together seamlessly.
Third, they’ll need to have a user-friendly application layer. Wallets that make transacting simple, tools for setting up smart contracts without the need to code, and platforms that allow for the issuance and/or trading of financial instruments need to be in place.
This blockchain would also have to be public, permissionless to build on within the bounds of the law (like TCP/IP), should have tiny fees, and would have to be structured in such a way that it allows users to comply with financial rules and regulations such as Know Your Customer and anti-money laundering (KYC/AML).
The last point, compliance, is a bigger deal than many acknowledge, and it’s another fatal flaw in the way Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchains like Ethereum work. It’s impossible to tell who the validators are, and hence it’s impossible to subject them to legal requests and orders. However, that’s another subject for a different day.
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There is one public blockchain that scales
Does such a blockchain exist, or is one in the works? Yes: the BSV blockchain has all of these features, including some others not mentioned. In recent private testing of its Teranode upgrade, it processed over a million TPS and a block with 1.7 million transactions was mined.
BSV also has all of the original Bitcoin opcodes restored and has a smart contracting language (sCrypt). Applications ranging from Web3 social media to gaming and financial trading are already live and working on BSV. IBM (NASDAQ: IBM) chose to build its TraceApp well on BSV a few years back.
This blockchain has also been purpose-built to comply with financial rules and regulations. The Network Access Rules ensure malicious actors face legal consequences, and the node structure is such that full nodes end up in data centres; hence, they will have to comply with laws regarding property rights, money laundering, and more.
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Summing it all up
Ethereum, Solana, and other popular blockchains are good for hobby projects that don’t require massive scale. The pioneers who created them deserve recognition for exploring the capabilities and limitations of blockchain technology.
However, if a tokenized financial system is to become a reality, it will have to be built on a blockchain like BSV. Since there are no other blockchains in the same ballpark, it’s reasonable enough to assume it will be developed on BSV.
Again, every firm running its own private blockchain makes as much sense as every firm running its own Internet. If we want a transparent, efficient, peer-to-peer system with tiny fees, robust security, and easy accessibility, a scalable public blockchain is the only path forward.
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Watch: A messy blockchain talk with Christopher Messina
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Source: https://coingeek.com/the-scaling-question-can-blockchain-handle-wall-st-volume/
