24-hour continuous trading, Bybit, Robinhood, and Kraken launched on the same day, the wave of tokenization in US stocks is surging

The boundary between traditional stock markets and the world of cryptocurrencies is rapidly blurring.

The tokenization of U.S. stocks has seen an unprecedented surge. On June 30, the U.S. online brokerage Robinhood announced the launch of U.S. stock tokenization services simultaneously with well-known cryptocurrency trading platforms Bybit and Kraken, providing users with a 24/7 uninterrupted stock trading experience.

According to Reuters, Robinhood announced on Monday the launch of stock token trading services based on the Arbitrum network for EU users, supporting trading of over 200 U.S. stocks and ETFs, including NVIDIA, Apple, and Microsoft. On the same day, Bybit and Kraken launched the "xStocks" (stock tokenization) product provided by the Swiss compliant asset tokenization platform Backed Finance, covering approximately 60 stock and ETF tokens.

Adam Levi, co-founder of Backed Finance, stated: “xStocks represents a significant leap in the democratization of access to financial markets.”

By bringing familiar assets to the blockchain with unprecedented accessibility, we are not only connecting traditional finance and DeFi but also building the foundation for a truly open, efficient, and inclusive global financial system.

These tokenized stocks are backed 1:1 by real stocks and support round-the-clock trading. Robinhood's service operates 24 hours a day, five days a week, with plans to eventually expand to 24/7 availability.

Following this news, Robinhood's stock price hit an all-time high, rising nearly 10%. Company executives also indicated plans to launch tokens linked to private company stocks, starting with Sam Altman's OpenAI and Musk's SpaceX.

Three Major Platforms Show Their Strengths, with Clear Technical Path Differences

The U.S. stock trading solutions of mainstream cryptocurrency trading platforms exhibit different models.

Cryptocurrency exchanges Bybit and Kraken act as access platforms providing matching services, adopting a third-party issuance model, connecting to tokens issued by Backed Finance, deployed on the Solana chain to achieve on-chain transfers and DeFi application integration. Users can trade 24/7 and enjoy corresponding economic rights (such as dividends). The compliance responsibilities of this model are primarily borne by the issuer, and the exchanges themselves generally do not hold securities licenses, with service scopes typically excluding U.S. users.

Robinhood, on the other hand, has chosen a licensed brokerage self-built chain path, directly issuing stock tokens based on the Arbitrum network and custodizing the underlying assets. According to Reuters, Robinhood plans to launch its own Layer 2 blockchain, Robinhood Chain, to achieve full on-chain integration of issuance, clearing, and settlement processes.

The CEO of Robinhood stated at a themed event in France, “Tokenization will usher in a revolution in large-scale trading.” The company plans to expand the number of tradable stock tokens to “thousands” by the end of the year and gradually achieve 24/7 trading

The Regulatory Environment is Becoming Clearer, Stock Tokenization is Rising Again

Previous articles from Wall Street Watch have mentioned that stock tokenization briefly emerged on platforms like Mirror Protocol but fell silent due to regulatory issues and market volatility. Now, with the advancement of the regulatory framework for Real World Assets (RWA), traditional financial institutions and cryptocurrency firms, represented by BlackRock, are actively lobbying regulators.

Since Trump's administration, U.S. cryptocurrency regulation has gradually relaxed, and stock tokenization in the U.S. may become a major hotspot.

A report from Guosheng Securities indicates that Coinbase is seeking approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to offer tokenized stock trading services to users. According to CoinDesk, the company has submitted a pilot application to the SEC, and if it receives a no-objection letter or exemption, it will become one of the first compliant platforms to launch tokenized U.S. stock services.

According to Reuters, experts believe that tokenized stocks could fundamentally change the landscape of securities investment. Tokenized stocks combine characteristics of traditional finance and crypto trading, gaining favor among international investors due to better market access, flexible trading hours, and lower costs.

The tokenization of U.S. stocks not only broadens the asset allocation channels for cryptocurrency investors but may also become an important application scenario for stablecoins. Stablecoins, as on-chain "fiat currency," play an infrastructural role in tokenized U.S. stock trading.

Guosheng Securities' report predicts that the vast scale of the U.S. stock market is sufficient to drive rapid expansion in the demand for stablecoins.

A Trillion-Dollar Market Outlook

According to McKinsey, the market for transferring physical financial assets to blockchain could reach $2 trillion by 2030. Currently, the tokenization of relatively simple assets like U.S. Treasury bonds on-chain has achieved significant success, with the market led by companies like Securitize and Ondo reaching billions of dollars.

Trump's election has raised supporters' expectations for an improved regulatory environment. Hester Peirce, head of the SEC's cryptocurrency working group, recently expressed support for tokenization, suggesting a pilot through a "sandbox structure" to allow innovative companies to quickly enter the market under relaxed rules.

Wyatt Lonergan of VanEck Ventures stated that native cryptocurrency investors "want the security of assets like Apple stock within their digital ecosystem," especially during periods of volatility in the cryptocurrency market. However, for ordinary American investors, fractional trading and same-day settlement have become the standard, raising the core question of whether there is truly scalable demand.

Challenges of Tokenized Stocks Remain

Despite the seemingly bright outlook, tokenized stocks still face significant challenges. According to Bloomberg's report on June 27, experts believe that there is a lack of regulatory clarity for tokenized stocks in the U.S., with most such services initially launched in jurisdictions outside the U.S.

Bryan Routledge, an associate professor of finance at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business, pointed out: "You are changing the way trading is done, not just changing the format of the assets." He predicts that this will create competition with the entire exchange and brokerage ecosystem According to data from RWA.xyz, the current total market size of tokenized stocks is only $388 million, which is negligible compared to the global stock market size of over $120 trillion.