tokenize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to hire, treat, or use (someone) as a symbol of inclusion or compliance with regulations, or to avoid the appearance of discrimination or prejudice.
The company has been accused of tokenizing women and people of color in their advertising.
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Linguistics. to separate (text) into discrete words, sequences, symbols, or other linguistic units.
When working with a data set using natural language, it's often useful to tokenize the text into individual words.
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Computers. to replace (sensitive or personal information, such as a bank account number) with a placeholder, usually a randomized string of characters having no meaningful value.
The electronic wallet technology securely captures, tokenizes, and stores credit card information.
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Digital Technology. to split (a tangible or intangible asset) into virtual tokens that are able to be sold or exchanged.
Rather than selling a painting outright, the artist can now tokenize the product and offer digital shares of the painting.
The startup hopes to tokenize movie stars, rock bands, and other celebrities, giving fans a unique opportunity to invest.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of tokenize
First recorded in 1985–90; token ( def. ) + -ize ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The former New York governor signed on as co-chairman of OKXICE, a joint venture between U.S. exchange powerhouse ICE and OKX that plans to tokenize stocks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp., which safeguards more than $100 trillion in financial assets, later this year plans to tokenize some of the U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 5, 2026
Wall Street firms are racing to tokenize stocks and other traditional assets using blockchain technology.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 9, 2026
“Now, Wall Street is exploring how to tokenize stocks, bonds and even real estate,” he said, bringing traditional financial assets into the same programmable ecosystem.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 10, 2025
As in: My name is Alex, and I could tokenize myself by launching AlexCoin.
From Slate ● Mar. 28, 2025
The future trading hours for OKXICE, a trading platform for tokenized stocks that’s set to launch on Nov. 23.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 12, 2026
Payward, which was on the receiving end of a $100 million investment from Nasdaq Ventures in September, launched tokenized versions of U.S. stocks last year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 11, 2026
Under the SEC’s current guidelines, venues can trade a stock tokenized by a third party so long as they provide 30 days notice to the issuing company and don’t receive an objection.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 11, 2026
The New York Stock Exchange said Monday that it would settle tokenized stocks on its upcoming 24/7 trading platform exclusively using the Avalanche blockchain.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 9, 2026
Janus has onboarded about 200 crypto wallets to its tokenized fund platform and plans to launch more tokenized funds, according to Nick Cherney, head of innovation at Janus Henderson.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026
By tokenizing stocks, investors can trade 24 hours a day, seven days a week rather than during set market hours.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 11, 2026
Financial institutions are increasingly tokenizing funds, which refers to digitizing these funds to trade on blockchain ledgers.
From Barron's ● Mar. 16, 2026
But some say the once-hot idea of tokenizing collectibles has lost its faddish appeal.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 9, 2025
Bobby’s bickersome museum colleagues sometimes make up a charmingly intersectional peanut gallery and sometimes feel like an assortment of tokenizing punchlines.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2022
It’s tokenizing at best, though like you I assume your colleague was operating in something resembling good faith.
From New York Times ● Aug. 13, 2021
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