Tokenised stocks are gaining traction, but what does putting equities on-chain actually change for investors?
Coinbase has launched tokenised stocks and started to track some of the world’s largest companies, including NVIDIA, Apple, Meta and Google’s parent company Alphabet.
Eligible users outside the US can access tokenised versions of US-listed shares through Base, Coinbase’s blockchain network.
Tokenised stocks are digital assets tied to traditional equities and recorded on a blockchain. When it comes to Coinbase, each token is backed one-to-one by a share held in regulated custody with Alpaca under the Abu Dhabi Global Market framework.
The initial offering includes NVDAc, AAPLc, METAc and GOOGLc, representing shares in NVIDIA, Apple, Meta and Alphabet.
In a 24 August press release, Coinbase also announced that it selected Chainlink to provide market data for the products, giving applications across Base pricing information for the stocks.
The partnership allows the tokens to be used for collateral across decentralised finance apps in the future, where users can potentially borrow against their holdings. The stocks can currently be used for buying, holding and selling.
“Base has built one of the most vibrant DeFi ecosystems out there, and Chainlink’s oracle infra unlocks new utility for tokenised assets,” said Antonio Garcia-Martinez, Head of Growth at Base.
“With institutional-grade market data now live onchain, we’re giving millions of users access to financial primitives that, until now, were locked behind traditional gatekeepers.”
Stocks have been updated
— Base (@base) August 24, 2026
Coinbase Tokenized Stocks are live on Base
– Available 24/7, 365
– Composable across Base DeFi
– Own the underlying share held in a regulated trust, backed 1:1
Live now, with new stocks coming soon pic.twitter.com/wEoBcvd9dG
Tokenised stocks start to gather traction
Coinbase is the latest company to embrace tokenised stocks, which are attracting attention across traditional and decentralised finance. Tokenised equities reached a record $2.3bn in value by mid-July 2026, according to the company.
Robinhood has expanded its own Stock Tokens offering in Europe, giving customers exposure to thousands of US-listed stocks and ETFs. Vladimir Tenev, CEO of Robinhood, described the technology as a “glimpse of a better future” in June 2026.
Interest has also reached traditional US exchanges, with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approving a Nasdaq rule change on 18 March that enables securities to trade on the exchange in tokenised form.
Nasdaq has also outlined plans for an equity token design that preserves the ownership rights attached to traditional shares while giving listed companies greater control over how their stock is represented on blockchain infrastructure.
The US market has taken further steps this year, with the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) completing live production transactions using tokenised securities in July.
The trials included tokenised equities in addition to other assets and involved around 40 financial firms, providing a test ahead of DTCC’s planned Tokenisation Service launch in October.
Regulators are also working on how these products should be treated. The SEC stated in January that tokenised securities can take several forms, with important differences depending on who issues the token and what rights its holder receives.
Tangible benefits or a new fad?
A statement frequently mentioned in tokenised stock announcements is that the assets can be made available 24/7, removing the restrictions of traditional market opening hours and speeding up settlement.
However, Toby Norfolk-Thompson, Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer at Sentora, believes the more important benefit is what investors can actually do with those assets once they are on-chain.
“Tokenised equities are interesting because they change what investors can do with an asset, rather than simply changing the format in which it is held. Bringing equities on-chain can enable 24/7 availability and settlement, while also making them much easier to integrate with decentralised financial infrastructure,” he tells Payment Expert.
“The really significant opportunity is what happens once a tokenised equity can be used as collateral within DeFi. Rather than simply holding a digital representation of a stock, investors could potentially use that equity in lending markets or other on-chain financial applications, creating a much more efficient and flexible capital market.”
These benefits, however, don’t mean tokenisation is an upgrade from the outset, as Norfolk-Thompson explains that putting an asset on-chain doesn’t remove the risks associated with the underlying security.
He also added that it introduces additional considerations around smart contracts, technology and operational risk.
Liquidity and market concentration could become another concern, especially if trading activity becomes clustered around a small number of platforms or holders.
Norfolk-Thompson warns against treating continuous trading as a substitute for the safeguards already expected in traditional markets.
“The opportunity is less about putting traditional equities on a blockchain for its own sake and more about making those assets usable within a broader, continuously operating financial system,” he says.
