Written by: Yangz, Techub News

This summer, with the listing of Circle and the issuance of Hong Kong's "Stablecoin Regulations," the stablecoin market has undoubtedly become the focus of the industry. However, the pace of the cryptocurrency industry will not stop here. At the intersection of traditional finance and the crypto world, a fierce competition over stock tokenization is underway. From Robinhood to Kraken, and then to Coinbase and Gemini, major cryptocurrency giants are igniting a "blockchain" wave on Wall Street, bringing the traditional stock market into the blockchain era.

Four Industry Giants Compete for Position

This innovation competition surrounding asset tokenization is unfolding globally. In this war without gunpowder, each platform is choosing different paths to break through based on its own advantages.

Robinhood's European Breakthrough

At a press conference by the seaside in Cannes, Robinhood announced the launch of U.S. stock token trading services for 400 million users across 30 EU countries. This trading platform, known for "disrupting Wall Street," has initially launched over 200 U.S. stock and ETF tokens, including those of star companies like Apple and Tesla. These tokens will initially be issued on Arbitrum and will later migrate to its self-developed Robinhood Chain—a Layer 2 network optimized for real-world assets (RWA) based on the Arbitrum technology stack. In conjunction, Robinhood has also launched a perpetual contract service for cryptocurrency aimed at EU users, with trading matching and clearing support provided by Bitstamp (acquired by Robinhood for $200 million), offering up to 3x leverage trading.

Kraken's Ecological Alliance Strategy

As a veteran cryptocurrency exchange, Kraken attempted to launch stock tokenization services back in 2021 but was forced to pause due to regulatory pressure. Now, Kraken makes a comeback by integrating the tokenized stock trading service xStocks launched by Swiss asset tokenization company Backed Finance, allowing users outside the U.S. to trade tokenized versions of 60 stocks and ETFs, including Apple, Microsoft, and core S&P 500 index stocks. Additionally, these tokens can be used as collateral for lending on DeFi protocols within the Solana ecosystem, such as Kamino Swap, Raydium, and Jupiter. Similarly, Bybit has also partnered with Backed Finance to launch tokenized stock trading services.

Coinbase's Compliance Exploration

As an industry leader, every step Coinbase takes in the field of stock tokenization resonates with the market. Unlike its competitors who are focusing on the European market, Coinbase is attempting to seek breakthroughs in the U.S. domestic market.

Coinbase's Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal recently revealed that the company is actively communicating with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to seek regulatory approval for conducting tokenized stock trading through a "No-Action Letter" or exemption. If this application is approved, it will set a precedent for compliant tokenized securities trading in the U.S.

Gemini's Precise Strike

Founded by the Winklevoss brothers, Gemini has recently taken a key step into the stock tokenization market. The platform announced a strategic partnership with the professional tokenization firm Dinari to jointly launch tokenized stock trading services for EU users.

Notably, Gemini has chosen Strategy (MSTR) as its first tokenized stock. This choice reflects Gemini's strategic positioning in the cryptocurrency field while cleverly leveraging market sentiment. In terms of compliance, Dinari's recent acquisition of FINRA broker-dealer status provides crucial regulatory backing for this service, ensuring that its tokenized stock products fully comply with U.S. securities regulations. Gemini stated that after the successful launch of the MSTR tokenized stock, it will soon roll out more tokenized versions of mainstream stocks and ETFs.

Behind this competition over stock tokenization lies the different visions of major platforms for the future of finance, essentially liberating stock trading from "Wall Street time." Although the development paths of these giants may vary, these explorations are collectively driving the acceleration of a more open, efficient, and inclusive global financial market. It is foreseeable that with the gradual improvement of regulatory frameworks and the continuous optimization of technological solutions, stock tokenization is expected to experience explosive growth in the coming years.

The Dormancy and Explosion of Stock Tokenization

In fact, stock tokenization is not a new concept that has emerged out of nowhere; its development history resembles a silent revolution lasting several years.

As early as during the DeFi Summer of 2020, synthetic asset protocols like Synthetix and Mirror Protocol pioneered the creation of derivatives linked to stock prices through smart contracts, allowing users to invest in the U.S. stock market without KYC. In the same year, FTX also launched tokenized stock trading services, allowing users to trade tokenized versions of U.S. stocks like Tesla and Apple directly. However, these early attempts were limited by regulatory ambiguity and immature technology, such as the oracle risks faced by synthetic assets and the custody risks associated with centralized platforms, ultimately fading away with the collapse of FTX and the Terra ecosystem. Although these early explorations did not gain traction, they laid the groundwork for today's explosion.

It is well known that the revolutionary advantage of tokenized stocks over ordinary stocks lies in their ability to completely break the time and space limitations of traditional markets, allowing global investors to trade fragmented U.S. stock assets around the clock while achieving near-instant settlement. But the key question is, why has this efficiency advantage only now come to fruition?

Perhaps this is closely related to the breakthrough progress in stablecoin regulation. Globally, advancements in stablecoin regulation, such as the U.S. GENIUS Act and Hong Kong's "Stablecoin Regulations," not only help establish a regulatory framework for stablecoins but, more importantly, provide reliable pricing benchmarks and settlement infrastructure for the tokenization of real-world assets. This regulatory breakthrough is akin to opening the floodgates for financial innovation.

However, financial innovation always comes with risks and opportunities, and stock tokenization is no exception. This transformation, while breaking traditional barriers, also brings new challenges.

The most significant risk currently facing the tokenized stock market may be its lack of safety nets found in traditional securities markets. Protective measures such as circuit breakers and price limits, which have been tested through multiple financial crises, are difficult to implement in a decentralized trading environment. Moreover, smart contracts, while bringing unprecedented efficiency improvements, can also turn a single vulnerability into a systemic risk due to their immutable nature.

Additionally, the tokenization of private equity in non-public companies, such as SpaceX launched by Robinhood, raises the risk to new heights. While it breaks the monopoly of traditional private markets held by the wealthy and institutions, the inherent information opacity of non-public companies, combined with the liquidity illusion that tokenization may bring, could foster new market bubbles. Furthermore, whether the underlying assets of stock tokenization have real counterparts is also a risk that investors need to consider.

These risks reveal the eternal theme in financial development: the race between innovation and regulation. History has repeatedly shown that when the pace of innovation far exceeds the regulatory framework, the market will ultimately pay a heavy price. For ordinary investors, while embracing the conveniences of tokenization, it is crucial to remain clear-headed. Any innovation that breaks from tradition entails a corresponding risk premium.

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