The Financialization of Everything
In the modern economy, investment logic has spread far beyond corporate finance. Art pieces, internet memes, political outcomes, neighborhoods, personal data, and even weather patterns are being increasingly framed as asset classes (Krippner 2005). This shift has slowly been affecting everyday life, changing how we value and access material goods, cultural products, and intangible assets (Woodbury 2021). While these financial innovations, such as fractional ownership platforms, asset tokenization, and data-driven marketplaces, expand access to participation in markets traditionally reserved for the wealthy, they also raise fundamental questions about inequality and the lengths to which we are willing to go to capitalize off of human experience.
Fractional ownership and tokenization promise to democratize access to wealth-building opportunities (Johnson 2021). In these emerging markets, assets do not need to be tangible or scarce in the traditional sense. Platforms like Masterworks and Rally now allow everyday investors to purchase small shares of high-value assets, while entire marketplaces extend this logic further by transforming personal biometric data, online behavior and trends, and even probabilities of future events into tradeable financial instruments (Gravier 2023; Huffman 2024; Zuboff 2018; Brock 2025; Steinhorst 2024). The deeper issue here is not simply the expansion of tradeable assets, but rather how this shift is fundamentally changing what we consider to be valuable. Recent empirical studies across various sectors have found that tokenization does indeed increase transactional efficiency and create new value propositions by lowering barriers and broadening participation, giving first-time investors exposure to markets that were once closed to all but the ultra-wealthy (Tanveer at al. 2025; Woodbury 2021). However, these advantages come with tradeoffs. Tokenized systems introduce new layers of governance complexity and risk redistribution that can destabilize rather than strengthen market ecosystems (Tanveer et al. 2025). The resulting core tension is therefore economic, not regulatory: the gains in accessibility and efficiency are offset by structural fragilities within the market itself. Furthermore, access does not necessarily equal inclusion. Even as these platforms open doors for newer investors, the economic benefits often remain unevenly distributed, with many small investors being left with fractional pieces of assets that they cannot meaningfully influence or easily sell. In this sense, this trend may actually widen wealth disparities rather than narrowing them, creating the illusion of inclusion while reinforcing structural inequality (Fischer 2021; Van Arnum & Naples 2013).
Communal and cultural spaces are being reframed as economic assets subject to speculation. Private equity firms have transformed rental housing into high-yield investments, diminishing access to affordable living (Fields 2017). Internet memes and trending content have become investment vehicles through NFTs and meme coins, with markets that track virality over fundamental economic value (Nadini et al. 2021). Human relationships themselves are increasingly being absorbed into market logic, as platforms monetize emotional connection through subscription-based friendships, influencer “bond” offerings, and purchasable blocks of mentorship or companionship (Gray 2024; Pearl 2024). In all of these cases, along with the examples mentioned above, financialization has assigned quantifiable worth to domains traditionally valued for expression, community, or civic significance. This shift can empower creators or participants by enabling them to monetize forms of labor previously ignored by traditional markets. Yet, it also risks collapsing all forms of value into financial value. When public goods and human relationships turn into tradeable assets, intrinsic meaning is overshadowed by monetary valuation. The resulting incentive structures push behavior and governance toward profitability rather than community well-being or civic responsibility (Kabouche et al. 2025; Milewski 2025) The expansion of financial logic into these formerly non-financial domains emphasizes the need to question not only what can be financialized, but what should be.
Several advocates of tokenization and financial innovation argue that these technologies will resolve one of the most persistent challenges in alternative markets: illiquidity. Assets such as fine art, real estate, collectables, or music royalties have historically been difficult to trade quickly or at scale. By fractionalizing these assets and representing ownership through blockchain-based tokens, innovators claim that markets can achieve greater liquidity and accessibility (Johnson 2021). Early studies support elements of this argument as well, with scholars claiming that tokenization can streamline transactions and create new value propositions for both firms and investors (Tanveer et al. 2025). Proponents argue that these innovations diversify capital flows and allow investors to reallocate capital more dynamically across asset classes (XBTO 2025). However, in reality, most tokens trade thinly or not at all, and secondary markets often fail to sustain meaningful price discovery (Woodbury 2021). Tokenization adds a layer of complexity and speculation, therefore meaning it is not representative of true liquidity (Krippner 2005). The result is a framework that mimics the features of liquid markets without providing their fundamental protections or stability. As tokenized assets move from experimental markets into mainstream finance, they increasingly encounter resistance from regulators and policymakers. Governments have raised concerns that these structures weaken oversight and allow market participants to exploit jurisdictional gaps, particularly during periods of volatility or failure (Tanveer et al. 2025). Furthermore, financialization may amplify system inequalities by enabling large institutional actors, including hedge funds, private equity firms, and tech platforms, to shape market behavior in ways individual investors cannot match (Fischer 2021). Ultimately, while tokenization seems to make illiquid assets more flexible, it often creates an illusion of liquidity rather than genuine market depth. The gap between these technological aspirations and their real-world outcomes shows that even sophisticated financial engineering cannot fully resolve deeper structural issues of governance, inequality, and risk.
All of these developments illustrate the fact that the financialization of everything is not merely an evolution in asset design, but a cultural transformation in how value itself is constructed. Fractional ownership, new asset markets, and tokenization extend participation to broader publics, but they also blur the boundaries between market-based decision making and domains traditionally governed by social norms and civic values. The implications extend far beyond simple financial gains or losses: they are structurally altering how we relate to shared resources and each other. The challenge now is deciding where financial logic enhances collective welfare and where it undermines the very forms of value and democratic agency that markets alone cannot protect.
References
Brock, Catherine. 2025. “Prediction markets: What they are and how they work.” Yahoo Finance, December 3. https://finance.yahoo.com/personal-finance/investing/article/prediction-markets-what-they-are-and-how-they-work-130052363.html?
Fields, Desiree. 2017. “Unwilling Subjects of Financialization.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 41:588-603. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.12519
Fischer, Amanda. 2021. “The rising financialization of the U.S. economy harms workers and their families, threatening a strong recovery.” Equitable Growth, May 11. https://equitablegrowth.org/the-rising-financialization-of-the-u-s-economy-harms-workers-and-their-families-threatening-a-strong-recovery/
Gravier, Elizabeth. 2023. “Masterworks: The platform that allows nearly anyone to invest in multimillion-dollar art.” CNBC, July 20. https://www.cnbc.com/select/what-is-masterworks/
Gray, Chloe. 2024. “Would you try a friendship subscription?” Women’s Health, February 3. https://www.womenshealthmag.com/uk/collective/healthy-habits/a46483938/would-you-try-a-friendship-subscription/
Huffman, Lee. 2024. “Rally Rd. Review [2025]: How to Invest in Cars, Wine, and Whiskey.” Finance Buzz, August 7. https://financebuzz.com/rally-rd-review
Johnson, Peter. 2021. “Alternative Investments: Democratization Through Fractionalization.” Jump Capital. https://jumpcap.com/insights/alternative-investments-democratization-through-fractionalization/
Kabouche, Noé, Philip Balsiger, and Philip Golka. 2025. “Issue translation and issue valorization: The role of professionals in the assetization of social and environmental impact.” Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space 57(4): 444-461. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X251327865
Krippner, Greta R. 2005. “The financialization of the American economy.” Socio-Economic Review 3(2): 173–208. https://doi.org/10.1093/SER/mwi008.
Milewski, Anthony. 2025. “How Tokenization Is Changing Commodity Valuation Models.” Forbes, December 2. https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbesbusinesscouncil/2025/12/02/how-tokenization-is-changing-commodity-valuation-models/
Nadini, Matthieu, Laura Alessandretti, Flavio Di Giacinto, et al. 2021. “Mapping the NFT revolution: market trends, trade networks, and visual features.” Scientific Reports 11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-00053-8
Pearl, D. 2024. “What’s Driving the Influencer Subscription Boom.” Business of Fashion, March 13. https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/marketing-pr/whats-driving-the-influencer-subscription-boom/
Steinhorst, Curt. 2024. Lost In The Scroll: The Hidden Impact Of The Attention Economy. Forbes, February 6. https://www.forbes.com/sites/curtsteinhorst/2024/02/06/lost-in-the-scroll-the-hidden-impact-of-the-attention-economy/
Tanveer, Umair, Shamaila Ishaq, and Thinh Gia Hoang. 2025. Tokenized assets in a decentralized economy: Balancing efficiency, value, and risks, International Journal of Production Economics 282. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109554.
Van Arnum, Bradford M., and Michelle I. Naples. 2013. “Financialization and Income Inequality in the United States, 1967-2010.” American Journal of Economics and Sociology 72(5): 1158–1182. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajes.12036
Woodbury, R. 2021.“What Happens When You’re The Investment.” The Atlantic, November 29. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/11/financialization-everything-investment-system-token/620804/
XBTO. 2025. 7 key benefits of tokenizing real-world assets. Posted October 1. https://www.xbto.com/resources/7-key-benefits-of-tokenizing-real-world-assets
Zuboff, S. 2018. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism. Hachette Book Group. Kindle.