The post The facet of TradFi most ripe for disruption is equities appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

Opinion by: Mike Cahill, co-founder and CEO of Douro Labs Despite the institutional frenzy around crypto and the ubiquitous narrative of democratized access to investing, most of the world population is still barred from traditional wealth-building.  Take the US, for example — here, the top 10% of earners own more than 90% of all stocks. On a global scale, it gets even worse: Billions of individuals don’t have the financial literacy, digital tools or minimum funds required to even access the most basic investment opportunities.  Traditional institutions must do more than just invest in crypto to ameliorate this disparity — they must start employing digital assets for new use cases altogether.  The facet of TradFi that is most ripe for disruption is equities. Investing in shares of private companies is an opportunity historically reserved only for the wealthy and hyper-connected. It is often siloed within the most economically advanced nations. Enhancing access to equities worldwide can be achieved, however, by injecting decentralized technology into three fundamental components of our financial system: price, execution and settlement. The bedrock of traditional finance Equities typically refer to shares of private companies, and they’re one of the most potent tools for wealth creation. On top of regulation, the main factor restricting access to equities is the infrastructure that underpins our financial system: stale and inaccurate pricing data, exclusive execution venues and painfully slow settlement periods.  Price Traditional equity markets are private. Here, pricing data is sequestered behind non-disclosure agreements, paywalls and groups of individuals who want to keep this information to themselves. Access to accurate, real-time pricing is what enables investors to make informed decisions, and it’s the crucial ingredient required to participate at all. If pricing data remains in the hands of those who can afford access or run in the right social circles,…

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Filed under: News - @ May 15, 2025 8:20 am