Key Highlights
- Coinbase tokenized stocks are now live natively on Base, with the tokens representing underlying shares held 1:1 by a regulated custodian.
- Eligible users outside the U.S. can trade fractional shares of companies such as Apple and NVIDIA through self-custody wallets.
- The tokenized stocks use the B20 standard, extending ERC-20 compatibility and allowing integration with Base-based DeFi applications.
Coinbase tokenized stocks are now live natively on Base, allowing eligible users outside the U.S. to trade fractional shares around the clock through self-custody wallets and onchain applications.
Base, a Layer 2 blockchain, announced on Monday that tokenized stocks, issued by Coinbase and built on the B20 standard, had gone live on the network. Each token represents an underlying share held on a 1:1 basis by a regulated custodian, with token holders retaining a direct claim on the corresponding shares.
According to the official announcement, the products are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Users in eligible jurisdictions outside the United States can hold tokenized fractional shares of companies, including Apple and NVIDIA, in self-custody wallets.
According to the announcement, Chainlink will provide the oracle infrastructure for the tokenized stocks on Base. Its price feeds are used to support lending, borrowing, and trading applications involving the assets.
How Coinbase Tokenized Stocks work
According to the announcement, authorized participants, which are institutional market makers, purchase the underlying shares. The shares are placed with Alpaca, a regulated broker and custodian, under a bankruptcy-remote structure, and the arrangement is supervised by the regulatory authority of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM).
Once issued, the tokens function as standard B20 tokens, and B20 extends the ERC-20 standard. The tokens can be held, transferred, and traded without whitelisted wallets or platform lock-in. They are compatible with existing wallets, routers, and protocols that support ERC-20 tokens, as noted by Base. Dividends and stock splits are managed through an on-chain multiplier.
Tokenized Stocks enter Base’s DeFi ecosystem
The tokenized stocks can trade through automated market maker pools on Base, with liquidity available on Aerodrome. Users can also supply the tokens as liquidity, use them as collateral, or integrate them into other onchain applications that support the B20 standard.
Several third-party protocols and services on Base had announced support for B20 by the time of the launch, allowing the tokenized stocks to interact with existing DeFi infrastructure on the network.
Access remains limited to eligible non-U.S. users
The tokenized stocks are available only to non-U.S. users in eligible jurisdictions.
Eligible users can access the assets through a compatible self-custody wallet without opening a traditional brokerage account or using a local market intermediary. Settlement takes place onchain. The availability of the products therefore depends on the user’s jurisdiction and the applicable regulatory requirements.
Coinbase expands onchain financial products
The tokenized-stock launch adds to Coinbase’s broader push into onchain financial products.
Separately, Coinbase recently introduced direct Brazilian real (BRL) trading pairs for USDC on Coinbase Advanced. The update, announced on August 19, allows Brazilian users to move between BRL and USDC without an intermediate step and reduces the cost of BRL-based USDC onboarding.
The tokenized stocks remain separate from that rollout and are restricted to eligible jurisdictions outside the U.S.
The Base launch puts Coinbase’s tokenized stocks on the network as native B20 assets, giving them ERC-20-compatible transfer and composability features. Coinbase has also indicated that additional stocks will be added as the rollout continues.
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