ETFs Are on a Tear — and Eric Balchunas Says Tokenization Won’t Slow Them Down
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas highlighted a remarkable milestone in the fund industry: the number of new ETF issuers has hit a fresh record for the third straight year. He noted that strong inflows are creating a self-reinforcing loop — more flows attract more issuers, more issuers drive more innovation, and innovation pulls in even more flows.
But Balchunas didn’t stop there. In a follow-up comment, he pushed back against the idea that blockchain tokenization is poised to disrupt this ETF momentum any time soon. While not dismissing tokenization entirely, he argued that it’s far more likely to remain a niche use case or serve as behind-the-scenes infrastructure rather than dethrone ETFs — a juggernaut he believes is only accelerating.