Layer One: Dinari’s Anna Wroblewska on bringing U.S. stocks to emerging markets onchain

Welcome to Layer One: the newsletter and podcast on the intersection of crypto and the real world. Hosted by The Block's Kelvin Sparks and John Wu, President of Ava Labs, Layer One brings you inside the conversations driving blockchain forward.

This week on the podcast we were joined by Anna Wroblewska, Chief Business Officer at Dinari, to break down how tokenized equities are expanding access to U.S. capital markets globally.

In this week’s newsletter, we're taking a look at how investors in historically underserved regions are driving a surge in demand for tokenized stocks and ETFs.

Emerging markets drive growing demand for tokenized U.S. equities

Since securing the first U.S. license for issuing tokenized equities in 2025, Dinari has expanded its lineup to well over 150 onchain stocks and ETFs. The platform’s dShares are compliant, tokenized versions of U.S. equities, which retain the rights and dividends of the underlying assets. Each of these tokens is backed 1:1 by the stock it represents.

Dinari’s rise is part of a wave of growth that saw the total value of tokenized equities scrape $1.5 billion earlier this month. Many of the largest tokenized stocks are crypto-native, such as Circle ($184 million in tokenized value), Strategy ($81 million) and Exodus ($62 million). 

However, there’s also demand for tokenized versions of some of the most popular stocks among retail investors; NVIDIA, Tesla and Alphabet each have tens of millions in tokenized value. As Wroblewska told Layer One, bringing these assets onchain not only makes trading and settlement more efficient, but also broadens access for investors around the world.

Speaking to The Block earlier this month, Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Kraken — whose xStocks platform accounts for over a quarter of onchain equities value — affirmed that most of the demand for these products is not in fact coming from inside the United States. Instead, he points to fintech firms in Africa, Southeast Asia, Mexico and Brazil as the core drivers.

This is in keeping with broader trends. Demand for access to American markets remains strong overseas, with foreign investments into U.S. stocks hitting record levels last year. According to data from the Federal Reserve, foreign entities and individuals account for over $18 trillion of direct investments in U.S. equities, or roughly 25% over the total market. Both of these figures have grown rapidly in recent decades.

However, some world markets are still majorly underserved in this regard. Weak local infrastructure and government-imposed restrictions mean that many investors across Africa, Latin America and Asia have historically had limited access to the world’s biggest companies.

In these regions, exposure to U.S. assets — like dollars, equities and treasuries — can be a lifeline amid local economic instability. It’s no coincidence then that many countries with sky-high inflation rates also rank highly on crypto adoption: Argentina (219.9% inflation rate), Turkey (58.5%) and Nigeria (33.2%) are all in the top 20 adoption rankings, according to recent data from Chainalysis.

In places like these, tokenized solutions like Dinari's are increasingly being used as an essential bridge to the U.S. financial system.

Podcast Recap: Dinari’s Anna Wroblewska on Bringing US Stocks Onchain

In the Headlines: The stories driving the conversation this week

• Kraken’s parent company Payward announced a collaboration with Franklin Templeton. The investment firm, which holds upwards of $1.7 trillion in AUM, is exploring tokenization opportunities across equities and institutional yield instruments. Kraken is already a major player in tokenized equities, with its xStocks processing more than $30 billion in trading volume since inception in June 2025.
• OpenAI and Anthropic PreStock prices fell sharply following warnings issued by the companies. These Solana-based instruments allow users to trade shares in private companies before their public listings. However, both AI firms this week released statements warning that such equity transfers could be treated as illegal and invalid. As a result, OpenAI and Anthropic PreStocks dropped 46% and 38% respectively.
• Tickets are on sale for the Avalanche summit in New York City. The two-day conference — scheduled for September 16-17 at Chelsea Industrial, Manhattan — will bring together builders, investors and business leaders from across the AVAX ecosystem. Speakers include some past Layer One guests, including Bitwise's Matt Hougan and Dragonfly's Haseeb Qureshi.

Top of the Charts: Dinari's dShares surged to ~$30 million total value in 2025

Keep up with the latest in tokenization, DeFi, and institutional adoption by subscribing to Layer One's weekly market insights.

Layer One is brought to you in collaboration with Avalanche.