Kevin O’Leary: Wall Street Tokenization Hype Needs Clearer Crypto Rules

Miami Beach, FL - Kevin O’Leary says Wall Street’s tokenization boom is mostly hype until Congress gives the crypto industry clear rules.

“Tokenization will never be adopted by institutional indexers, ever,” O’Leary said at Consensus in Miami, arguing that large investors still see most digital assets as uninvestable without federal regulation.

He said the turning point will come only when the U.S. establishes a formal legal framework for digital assets. “It has to become compliant globally within the SEC with an actual passage of a bill,” he said. “When that occurs, it’s going to change everything.”

O’Leary pointed to stablecoins as an example of how regulation can accelerate adoption, noting that after the GENIUS Act passed, stablecoins were adopted “almost immediately.” He added that institutional investors have narrowed focus, saying “97% of the entire value of the entire market is simply BTC and ether (ETH).”

He also tied the future of blockchain and AI to infrastructure, arguing that energy and data centers may prove more valuable than the digital assets themselves. “Power is more valuable than bitcoin,” O’Leary said.