Not a crypto person, but is it a situation where one may have crypto and wants to invest it without converting it to USD/CAD/JPY/etc.. and paying taxes on it?

I'm assuming that, like most crypto, the benefits are for the exchange. They don't have to purchase any Microsoft stock. They can just sell virtual stock, invest the crypto in whatever they want, and only have to pay back when people actually want to sell it. And like the fractional reserve system, they hope that only a small fraction want out at any given time.

Microsoft loses because all of that investment activity does nothing to help their valuation, but the middlemen in the crypto market take their share on each transaction.

Shares should simply just be tokens. Why do we have that complex systems where shares can only be traded by regulated entities (brokers) and only be traded during certain times? If a share is a token, the holder of the token will be entitled to the same rights such as dividends collection and voting in the shareholder meeting. No need for brokerage accounts, I can trade my shares 24/7 and transfer it to whomever I want. Paying 2-5$ fees on trades seem backwards this day and age.

Minor benefits around clearing and settlement, but these allow for 24/7 even if the clearing house is not so. On the other hand, I don’t see how they should be able to block it. It is a derivative product, can MSFT block e.g. puts on its stock? Stock ownership gives rights, not obligations.

There’s many countries around the globe where buying US shares is either impossible or prohibitively expensive. Also composability in DeFi protocols.

For the issuer, same playbook on how stables issuers print money - you get cash that you can put into treasuries to earn “free” yield on. Works as long as rates aren’t zero.

Because you're under sanctions? Because you're really investing drug money? Because ...

I say that so definitive because there is no reason at all to do this other than avoiding the existing banking system.

Why are paper certificates for shares no longer used?

I guess because it's easier to trade USDT for stock tokens in an Ethereum contract. Same reason USDT is on the blockchain and not just a database run by its owners, who are already centralized of course.

There are also a lot of examples of contracts with some centralization that would appear to remove the entire point of using a blockchain, but they're simple enough that the blockchain is actually easier than hosting their own API, dealing with auth, keeping ddos and hackers out, etc.

Because with a database row you don't risk having SEC suing you into oblivion.

Blockchain tokenization is only for high risk negative reward people.

I see it as a Ponzi scheme when people argue that they're a replacement for dividends. You're describing them as if dividends are an assumption, in which case they're perfectly reasonable.