Coinbase is in search of permission from the U.S. Securities and Trade Fee (SEC) to launch blockchain-based equities, Reuters reported on June 17, citing the trade’s chief authorized officer, Paul Grewal.
The plan would allow Coinbase to supply digital tokens that characterize possession in publicly listed corporations, successfully merging conventional fairness markets with blockchain infrastructure.
If greenlit, this step might place the trade in direct competitors with mainstream retail brokers corresponding to Robinhood and Charles Schwab.
New product, acquainted hurdles
Grewal advised the newswire the initiative is a “big precedence” for the trade, which goals to safe a “no motion letter” or related regulatory aid. This could sign the SEC’s intent to not problem the launch beneath present securities legal guidelines.
Tokenized equities, digital representations of shares traded on a blockchain, are sometimes touted as a method to lower prices, speed up settlement instances, and allow around-the-clock buying and selling.
Regardless of the promise, they continue to be largely experimental within the U.S. attributable to gaps in regulatory readability and restricted liquidity in secondary markets.
Grewal didn’t verify whether or not Coinbase has formally submitted a request to the SEC or disclosed a timeline for rollout. He famous that better certainty from regulators might lastly unlock broader institutional curiosity in tokenized property.
Shifting coverage
Coinbase is just not alone in chasing tokenized shares. Rival trade Kraken unveiled its personal model, dubbed xStocks, final month, however just for choose jurisdictions exterior the U.S. attributable to home regulatory roadblocks.
The push comes amid a friendlier surroundings for crypto companies beneath President Donald Trump’s administration. This yr, the SEC dropped a number of lawsuits towards main exchanges, together with Coinbase, and assembled a brand new job drive to draft fashionable digital asset tips.
For Coinbase, branching into tokenized equities represents each a contemporary income and an opportunity to blur the strains between conventional brokerage providers and DeFi. Whether or not U.S. regulators will embrace that imaginative and prescient stays to be seen.
