Coinbase Debuts Tokenized US Stocks on Base for Investors…

Coinbase has begun offering tokenized US stocks on its Base blockchain, launching with Apple, Nvidia, Meta and Alphabet. The products are available only to eligible investors outside the United States, and the exchange said more equities will be added following the initial rollout. Each token is backed 1:1 by shares held through Alpaca, a regulated broker and custodian.

Under Coinbase's B20 framework, institutional market makers acquire the underlying shares before the corresponding tokens are issued on Base. Alpaca holds those shares in a bankruptcy-remote structure, and each token carries a direct claim on the underlying equity. The offering is issued under Abu Dhabi Global Market regulation, building on the international tokenization hub Coinbase established in Abu Dhabi this year. That structure distinguishes the product from tokenized instruments that provide only synthetic price exposure or rely on derivatives and debt claims.

Built for DeFi use

Once issued, the tokens can be transferred between wallets without requiring each receiving address to be whitelisted. Investors can hold them in self-custody and trade around the clock on supported onchain venues, including the decentralized exchange Aerodrome. Coinbase said dividends and stock splits will be reflected in the tokens to preserve their economic link to the shares. The key difference from a conventional brokerage account is composability: a tokenized Nvidia or Apple position could be deposited into a lending protocol, pledged as loan collateral, or traded against other blockchain-based assets without first returning to a traditional broker. Chainlink is supplying continuous pricing data so that decentralized exchanges, lending markets and other applications can calculate trades, collateral values and liquidation thresholds.

Coinbase is not alone in the segment, with Kraken and Binance also pursuing tokenized equities as exchanges look beyond crypto trading for a larger asset pool. Tokenization is already advancing elsewhere in finance, with banks and asset managers moving tens of billions of dollars of US Treasuries, private credit and investment funds onchain; Citi has projected tokenized securities could reach $5.5 trillion by 2030.

Public equities bring harder questions around custody, investor rights and regulation, however. Coinbase's decision to exclude US investors even though the tokens represent US-listed companies underscores how securities rules can restrict blockchain-based distribution. Liquidity on decentralized venues may also diverge from that of the underlying US market, and a token's risk profile spans its custodian, issuer, smart contracts, price feeds and the DeFi protocols using it. The first four listings will test whether demand extends beyond 24/7 price exposure.