tokenize

American  

[toh-kuh-nahyz] / ˈtoʊ kəˌnaɪz /

especially British, tokenise

verb (used with object)

tokenized, tokenizing

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

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Other Word Forms

• tokenization
  noun

Etymology

Origin of tokenize

First recorded in 1985–90; token ( def. ) + -ize ( def. )

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tokenize tokenized tokenizing

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

"I hope people in computer science can figure out how can we tokenize cryptocurrencies in some way that can benefit global science," says Grzybowski.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 24, 2024

I too wonder if I’m participating in a machine that claims to redistribute power only to tokenize.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2023

Citi, JPMorgan Chase and other banks plan to launch a tokenized deposit system next year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026

And JPMorgan Chase and Invesco have also rolled out tokenized funds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026

Two days later, the industry regained momentum when the Securities and Exchange Commission cleared the path for tokenized stocks to trade in the U.S.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026

And finally, with the SEC opening the door to tokenized equities, they explain what it means for stocks to be traded like crypto—and why AMC is beefing with Robinhood over it.

From Slate ● Sep. 19, 2026

A top securities regulator cleared a path for trading venues to offer tokenized stocks in the U.S., a landmark decision that may overhaul traditional equity markets.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

Airbnb founder and CEO thinks the success of tokenizing real-world assets depends on trust embedded in the governance and trustworthiness of the hosting system itself.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 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

In her academic work, Moore has criticized the show for avoiding butch characters and tokenizing Hispanic ones, and for misguided portrayals of transgender issues.

From New York Times ● Nov. 29, 2019