Coinbase announced plans for what it calls the first tokenized U.S. stocks backed 1:1 by actual shares, with automatic on-chain dividend distribution. The exchange described the product as ‘no derivatives, no IOUs,’ a direct contrast to the synthetic equity structures currently dominating on-chain equity trading.
Coinbase said Tuesday it will launch tokenized stocks backed one-for-one by shares of U.S. companies.
The exchange announced the product on its official X accountwriting that “the first real, 1:1 backed tokenized stocks are coming” and that customers will be able to own, trade, hold and redeem the tokenized shares onchain while receiving dividends automatically.
In fine print, the post said tokenized stocks “will only be available in eligible jurisdictions outside the United States,” with no date attached. No custody partner, token issuer, or list of supported equities was disclosed.
The move targets a market led by xStocks, which holds about $516 million in total value locked, almost entirely on Solana, according to DefiLlama..
The launch would make Coinbase the latest U.S.-based exchange to tokenize American equities while keeping the product away from American users. Robinhood, Gemini and Kraken have already opened tokenized-stock trading to customers outside the U.S. Coinbase’s “not a derivative, not an IOU” framing also raises the bar in a category where most existing offerings give holders price exposure rather than a direct claim on shares.
“For the first time, these are real 1:1 backed tokenized stocks you can trust. You own an actual chunk of the company onchain,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said in a post on X. He added that the product would deliver “all the benefits of true ownership, with all the benefits of tokenized assets,” calling it “a great step towards unlocking global access to U.S. markets.”
‘Not a Derivative, Not an IOU’
The framing is aimed at the current generation of tokenized-equity products. The onchain market leader is xStocks, whose tokens are issued by Backed Assets (JE) Limited, a Jersey-based firm that holds shares in custody and issues tokens against them. Those tokens are redeemable only for qualified investors under EU rules, and U.S. persons are blocked from participating.
Binance’s bStocks product tokenizes holdings that users already hold on the exchange, creating an onchain representation of an exchange-side position rather than a direct claim on externally custodied shares. Kraken offers xStocks-bundled products through Backed Assets’ issuance infrastructure. Securitize, which won FINRA approval to custody tokenized securities and partnered with Computershare to tokenize U.S.-listed equities, represents a third path: tokenization through a registered broker-dealer.
Coinbase’s description — a U.S. exchange holding shares directly, with onchain tokens that constitute a redeemable claim and automatic dividend pass-through — implies a structure closer to the registered-custody approach than to the Jersey-issuer or exchange-re-tokenization models. Coinbase has not said which legal entity will issue the tokens or who will hold the underlying shares.
Starting Outside the US
The decision to launch abroad first tracks the regulatory split between the two products Coinbase already runs. The CFTC oversees derivatives, and Coinbase holds a CFTC-regulated derivatives clearing organization designation that lets it offer equity-linked derivatives to U.S. retail customers. Actual equity ownership, which is what the tokenized-stock product describes, falls under SEC jurisdiction.
The SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets has outlined a framework to list and trade tokenized securities on existing market infrastructure, alongside a parallel effort to harmonize rules with the CFTC. Until that work is complete, a 1:1 custody model with automatic dividend pass-through for U.S. retail customers would have to be classified as a security requiring broker-dealer registration or a specific exemption, or structured through a transfer-agent arrangement. Launching in eligible jurisdictions outside the U.S. sidesteps that requirement at launch.
A Delivery Gap to Close
The tokenized-equity model ran into a high-profile failure this month, when Bybit, Binance and Bitget Wallet canceled tokenized SpaceX allocations after xStocks did not deliver actual shares ahead of SpaceX’s public listing. The episode illustrated the gap between tokenized exposure and share ownership that Coinbase’s announcement is explicitly designed to address.
Not New
“1:1 backed” is not itself a new claim. Kraken already markets its tokenized Coinbase stock as backed one-for-one by real Class A shares held with a third-party custodian, yet holders of that product receive no shareholder rights.
What Coinbase says distinguishes its product is direct ownership, automatic dividends and onchain redemption. Those claims rest on a legal and custody structure the company has not yet disclosed, and the announcement is a teaser rather than a live product. Tokenized stocks also remain small next to traditional equity markets; xStocks’ roughly $516 million in TVL is a fraction of daily volume on a single large-cap U.S. stock.
Coinbase said it will share more at a product event at 3 p.m. ET Tuesday, which it billed as covering additional launches.