The world's stock markets keep set hours, close on weekends, sell in whole shares, and take another full day before money and stock actually "clear." Here's the idea that tears all of that up: park real shares with a custodian, then issue a "token" on a blockchain one-for-one to stand in for them — that token trades 24 hours a day, buys in fractions of a dollar, and settles instantly. The people actually doing this aren't just crypto natives — they're Robinhood, Kraken, and Coinbase. And the harder part isn't the stock itself; it's the "rails" underneath — the registry and rules that make it legal.
SEC Unveils Trading Framework for Tokenized Stocks, S&P Acquires OpenZeppelin, DeFi Market Cap Hits $80 Billion
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission introduced a provisional, conditional exemption allowing certain tokenized U.S.-listed equities to trade on-chain under specified conditions, while S&P Global agreed to acquire OpenZeppelin, a firm specializing in smart contract security infrastructure. The SEC measure, set out in a "Statement on Innovation Exemptions" signed by Commissioner Mark T. Ueda, guarantees holders of equity tokens the same rights as holders of conventional shares and requires third parties to notify the issuer of the underlying stock in writing before dealing in tokenized shares. According to S&P Global, OpenZeppelin's technology has supported the transfer of more than $37 trillion in value cumulatively, including major stablecoins and tokenized funds. Following these announcements, the market capitalization of DeFi-related tokens rose about $7 billion on Friday, climbing 8.8% to $79.8 billion, while the total market capitalization of the broader crypto market rose 4% to $2.7 trillion. Hyperliquid's HYPE jumped 10.8% to an all-time high of about $90.46, giving it a market capitalization of $20.12 billion; Uniswap's UNI rose 29.1% over 24 hours to about $9.00, for a market capitalization of $5.59 billion; and Aave's AAVE gained 9.5% to about $135.28. Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan said the SEC is trying to put in place as much of a crypto regulatory framework as it can under its existing authority, and described tokenization as a massive tide.
SEC Grants Five-Year Innovation Exemption for Tokenized U.S. Equities, Lifting Robinhood and Coinbase
The SEC announced a five-year conditional Innovation Exemption allowing eligible platforms to trade tokenized U.S. equities without standard exchange registration, sending shares of Robinhood up 7.6% and Coinbase up 10.5%. According to Reuters, the temporary framework lets digital asset brokerages and trading platforms support tokenized equity trading while the agency solicits public comments to shape permanent regulatory policies for on-chain securities. Tokenized equities represent traditional corporate shares as digital tokens on a blockchain, potentially enabling 24/7 trading, fractional ownership, and more efficient settlement. The move reduces compliance hurdles and waives full exchange registration requirements for qualifying participants, opening the door for platforms like Coinbase and Robinhood to launch new asset offerings and capture additional trading volume. The rally was further supported by a rebound in the broader cryptocurrency market, with Bitcoin trading up roughly 2% near $78,000. Coinbase remains down 17.7% since the start of the year and trades at $194.63 per share, 49.7% below its 52-week high of $387.27 from October 2025.
SEC Clears Path for Tokenized US Stocks Under Five-Year Innovation Exemption
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has cleared a path for tokenized US stocks, bringing the market closer to 24/7 trading under a five-year innovation exemption that lets eligible platforms trade tokenized US equities through blockchain-based liquidity pools. No platform has been individually approved, and the framework is not yet operational, though trading could start as soon as 30 days out. The exemption covers secondary trading only, not IPOs or issuance of new shares, and tokens must be tied to existing publicly traded equities rather than price trackers, with holders receiving the same economic interest, dividends, voting rights, liquidation rights and shareholder communications as conventional shareholders. Issuing companies get a veto: if an unaffiliated third party such as an exchange wants to tokenize a company's stock, the company receives 30 days to object. Smart contracts must be public and auditable on a public permissionless blockchain, not walled-garden private chains, while traders and wallets are verified and whitelisted for sanctions and AML compliance, and tokenized stocks can trade in crypto-style pairs, including tokenized stock against tokenized stock, a permitted stablecoin, another non-security crypto asset, or tokenized money market funds. The deliberately small pilot has multiple tiers: for the largest Tier one stocks each venue is limited to 75 symbols and 0.25% of each stock's prior month average daily volume, Tier two allows 250 symbols and 2.5% of volume, and repeatedly exceeding a limit triggers a three-month trading pause in that stock. Around-the-clock trading and self-custody are possible but not guaranteed and will be up to the exchange, and the relief exempts only two narrow requirements: venues from registering as conventional exchanges, and qualifying AMM liquidity providers from dealer registration and anti-fraud and market manipulation rules.
Coinbase Files With SEC to List Perpetual Futures on U.S. Stocks
Coinbase Global has filed for regulatory approval to list perpetual futures tied to individual large-cap U.S. stocks, opening the door to 24/7 leveraged trading of shares such as Apple, Microsoft, Tesla and Nvidia on a regulated U.S. platform. The exchange plans to offer contracts linked to roughly 50 to 60 major stocks, with trading potentially starting later this year if regulators approve the products, according to The Wall Street Journal. Coinbase submitted a Form 1-N to the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this month, a filing that allows Coinbase Derivatives to register with the SEC as a national securities exchange for security futures products. The move follows Coinbase's push to expand perpetual futures beyond crypto; the exchange launched stock perps for eligible customers outside the U.S. in March, and earlier this month launched regulated crypto derivatives for eligible Canadian traders, offering 23 crypto futures tied to assets including Bitcoin, Ether and Solana, alongside futures for gold, silver, oil and the COIN50 index. U.S. regulators have also taken steps this year to open the market to perpetual contracts, with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission approving a bitcoin perpetual futures contract submitted by Kalshi on May 29 and saying market participants could seek approval for other perpetual products. Coinbase is not alone in seeking to bring the products into the U.S. regulated market, as Kalshi has also moved toward offering single-stock perpetual futures.
Strategy Jumps 12%, Coinbase Climbs 11% as Bitcoin Tops $80,000
Bitcoin traded at $80,888.81, up 5.5% over 24 hours, pushing crypto-linked equities sharply higher Friday morning. Strategy stock rose 12% to $148.55 and Coinbase Global shares climbed 11% to $192.43, both outpacing the coin itself, while the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF gained 6% and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust slipped 0.1%. Nic Puckrin, founder of Coin Bureau, said short positions were liquidated once Bitcoin broke past its resistance level, and crypto derivatives traders had been heavily positioned in call options heading into the move. The Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday it is granting a five-year exemption allowing U.S. trading venues to offer tokenized stocks, a direct tailwind for Coinbase, which earns fees on every listed venue it operates. Coinbase chief executive Brian Armstrong said he now assumes the CLARITY Act is dead and that another path exists through the regulators, naming the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, while a House of Representatives committee advanced the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve bill on Thursday, a measure that still requires approval from the full House and the Senate. Strategy remains a leveraged treasury vehicle for Bitcoin, funded largely with issued equity, and its stock is still down 3% year to date even after this month's rebound.
CFTC Eases Broker Registration Rules for Prediction Market Apps
CFTC staff on Thursday issued a no-action letter making it easier for apps to offer prediction markets without registering as brokers, expanding a model already used by Phantom. The relief lets qualifying "passive software" providers offer access to regulated derivatives, including prediction markets, while receiving a share of trading revenue or charging users transaction-based fees, provided they do not hold customer assets, generate buy or sell signals or control how trades are executed. The relief is temporary and lasts until the CFTC issues a rule or other guidance on broker registration for software developers. The agency first tested the model with crypto wallet Phantom, which offers prediction markets powered by Kalshi to its more than 20 million users and received individual no-action relief in March; Thursday's letter makes similar relief broadly available to other software providers that meet the agency's conditions. Robinhood generated $156 million from event contracts in the second quarter, more than its $129 million from equities or $100 million from cryptocurrency trading, and its Robinhood Derivatives unit can hold customer funds for derivatives trading, while Rothera, its exchange and clearinghouse joint venture with Susquehanna International Group, contributed $17 million of second-quarter event-contract revenue. Coinbase Global occupies a similar position, with its Coinbase Financial Markets subsidiary operating the brokerage behind Coinbase's U.S. prediction-market offering.
SEC Opens U.S. Path for Tokenized Stocks Under Five-Year Exemption
The Securities and Exchange Commission's Sept. 17 Innovation Exemption creates a five-year, conditional pathway for certain tokenized U.S. stocks to trade on blockchain-based Tokenized Securities Venues, a framework that could benefit Robinhood Markets. The exemption permits trading through permissioned automated market makers and liquidity pools, but requires tokenized shares to give holders the same rights and privileges as conventional shares, including dividends and voting rights, while issuers can block third-party tokenization by objecting within 30 days of receiving notice from the trading venue. Robinhood cannot simply bring its existing Stock Tokens to the United States, since the company describes them as tokenized debt securities backed 1:1 by underlying shares that provide economic exposure rather than legal or beneficial ownership and are unavailable to U.S. residents. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev has said the company plans to add one-for-one share redemption and voting rights after AMC CEO Adam Aron criticized the Stock Tokens for lacking traditional shareholder rights, though the SEC's allowance for issuer objections diverges from Tenev's stance. Coinbase Global is the most direct rival given its U.S. stock-trading business and international tokenized-equity efforts, while Intercontinental Exchange is developing a 24/7 digital venue for tokenized equities through the NYSE. Robinhood's first-half 2026 revenues climbed 24% year over year to $2.38 billion, earnings rose 23% to $1.00, and the company ended August with 28.6 million funded customers and $384 billion in total platform assets, up 26% year over year.
CFTC Publishes No-Action Policy for Passive Software Providers
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced on September 17 a "no-action position" stating that it will not recommend enforcement action against providers of qualifying "passive software" on the grounds that they are not registered as an Introducing Broker (IB) or similar under the Commodity Exchange Act. The move makes broadly available to qualifying software providers a form of relief similar to the no-action position the CFTC issued in March to Phantom Technologies, the developer of the crypto asset wallet Phantom. It covers businesses that provide and market software enabling users to transact with registered futures commission merchants (FCMs), IBs, and designated contract markets (DCMs). The announcement came on the same day, the 17th, that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published a temporary, conditional "innovation exemption" allowing on-chain trading of tokenized equities. With the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, the crypto market structure bill, unable to advance past a procedural vote in the Senate, the SEC and CFTC are pressing ahead with measures that use their existing legal authority. The measure is not a formal rulemaking, however, but a staff-level policy under which the CFTC's Market Participants Division (MPD) will decline to recommend enforcement action under certain conditions.
Securitize Jumps 14% After SEC Clears Limited Tokenized Stock Trading
Securitize shares surged Thursday after federal regulators greenlit the issuing of tokenized stocks on some trading platforms in the U.S. The tokenization name was last up 14%, having peaked at a 24% gain. The Securities and Exchange Commission earlier in the day announced a temporary path for the limited trading of tokenized publicly traded U.S. stocks; the order, though not a formal regulation change, will remain in force for five years. SEC Chair Paul Atkins said the Innovation Exemption is designed to resolve challenges that have prevented responsible innovation from taking root in the United States while providing investor protections and market integrity standards. Securitize became the first major tokenization firm to go public in the U.S. in early July and holds roughly 9% of the tokenized market by assets under management, according to Needham Securities. The combined market value of tokenized assets has soared to $38.51 billion as of Thursday afternoon, up more than 70% over the past year, according to data provider RWA.xyz.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Says Tokenized Stocks Have Already Notched Almost $1 Billion in Trading Volume
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said the company's newly launched tokenized equities have already generated almost a billion dollars in trading volume just weeks after debut. In an interview with Scott Melker on "The Daily Wolf with Scott Melker," Armstrong said Coinbase built the tokenized shares as real securities that can be redeemed one to one for the underlying share and carry shareholder rights including dividend upside and voting, unlike the derivative, synthetic or debt-instrument versions he said he has seen elsewhere. He argued tokenized equities let users trade shares 24/7, send them anywhere in the world and tap a unified global liquidity pool, serving the roughly four billion people he said lack access to any brokerage. Armstrong said Coinbase began with stablecoins, a one-to-one backed digital token for a dollar, and now intends to tokenize everything, including private companies, treasuries and asset management funds, to make investments fast, cheap and globally distributed while reducing settlement risk. He added that the current SEC is very interested in bringing the idea to the US.
SEC Takes Major Step Toward Putting Wall Street Stocks on Public Blockchains
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has taken one of its biggest steps yet toward bringing Wall Street stocks onto public blockchains. Michael Saylor reacted to the move, calling it a major breakthrough. The development marks one of the agency's most significant actions to date in the effort to place traditional equity trading on blockchain rails.
Canary Staked TRX ETF TRXS Debuts With First Distribution as Key Test
The Canary Staked TRX ETF, trading under the ticker TRXS on NASDAQ, has launched as one of the newest single-token crypto funds that pass through on-chain staking yield to shareholders, giving conventional brokerage accounts exposure to Tron without wallet, custody, or exchange friction. With only six trading days of history and a most recent close of $24.80 on September 16, 2026, the fund is too young to judge on trailing returns, so the first quarterly distribution notice will be the single most informative document, revealing the effective net staking APR versus Tron's advertised network staking rate. The dominant macro driver is the health of the Tron network itself, where weekly USDT transfer volume and the active staked TRX ratio determine both token demand and the staking rewards that fund distributions. Layered on top is the SEC's evolving stance on staking-inclusive crypto ETFs, with any enforcement signal or amended exemptive order flowing directly through to the fund's distribution profile. Two early-stage mechanics also matter: tracking error to TRX spot, which can widen around weekend crypto market opens when the ETF is closed, and bid-ask spreads on this new low-AUM fund, which can erode a quarter or more of expected annual yield if investors trade at market rather than using limit orders.
Crypto.com Wins Approval for Single-Stock Futures, CEO Says
Crypto.com has been authorized to bring single-stock futures to the market, CEO Kris Marszalek said in a post on X. The company is working with the SEC and the CFTC to offer single-stock perps in the US. Earlier this month, media reports said Robinhood Markets is expanding its prediction-markets business through a multiyear partnership with Crypto.com, bringing yes-or-no event contracts to its trading app.
Robinhood Falls 5% After Prosecutors Charge Two Ex-Engineers Over Crypto Trades
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have charged two former Robinhood engineers with front-running crypto listings, sending Robinhood shares down 5% to $105.1 and Webull shares down 9% to $7.92. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced charges against Hefu Chai and Huaisong Xiang, each facing one count of violating the Commodity Exchange Act; prosecutors allege the two bought perpetual futures tokens on the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid ahead of Robinhood's public announcements that the underlying tokens would be listed on Robinhood Crypto. U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said each is alleged to have profited more than $50,000. Robinhood itself is not accused of wrongdoing, and the sell-off reflects broker-specific regulatory and reputational risk rather than a broader crypto move, with the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF down 0.6% to $42.86 and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust up 0.4% to $760.33. The Senate's failure to advance the CLARITY Act digital asset bill in a procedural vote on Tuesday had already pressured crypto-linked equities before the charges landed.
Kraken Introduces xStocks Vaults, a Yield Feature Offering Up to 2% Annualized on Tokenized Stocks and ETFs
Crypto exchange Kraken announced on September 14 that it has introduced xStocks Vaults, a DeFi-based yield feature, for holders of xStocks, the tokenized stocks and ETFs it offers. Users who deposit eligible tokens they hold can earn rewards from yield strategies run through decentralized finance, with an estimated yield of up to 2% annualized after fees. The eligible tokens are SPYx, which tracks an S&P 500 ETF; QQQx, which tracks a Nasdaq 100 ETF; and NVDAx, which tracks Nvidia shares. Deposited tokens are used as collateral, and borrowed stablecoins are directed into DeFi yield strategies, allowing users to earn rewards while maintaining exposure to the price movements of the corresponding stocks and ETFs. Withdrawals can be requested at any time but take three days to complete, and because the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and others, along with Japan, are designated as regions where the service is not offered, residents of Japan cannot use this feature. Kraken introduced DeFi yield features for stablecoins in January and for Bitcoin in May, and this time it has expanded the offering to tokenized stocks and ETFs.
Circle Launches Arc Layer 1 With BlackRock, DTCC, Visa Among 12 Validators
Circle's Arc blockchain went live on September 16, 2026, as an open, EVM-compatible Layer 1 network, one day after the CLARITY Act failed a cloture vote in the U.S. Senate. The network's 12 founding validators include BlackRock, DTCC, Visa, Mastercard, and ICE, operating as a permissioned environment that Circle positions as institutional-grade settlement infrastructure. Arc uses native USDC as its gas token and launches with a Proof-of-Authority consensus mechanism, with a planned evolution to Proof-of-Stake and future staking economics for the ARC token. Circle plans to tokenize DTC-custodied assets on Arc by H2 2027, targeting a DTCC that industry estimates says processes approximately $2.4 quadrillion in securities transactions annually, while BlackRock is expected to deploy its BUIDL fund, valued by industry estimates at over $2 billion, onto the network. The project faces headwinds: the New York Department of Financial Services has not reviewed or approved the network as of the August 2026 announcement, and the small, hand-picked validator set invites centralization concerns.
Dangote Refinery IPO Opens for Subscription via Stablecoins on Solana
Solana announced on September 15 on its official X account that subscriptions for the initial public offering of one of Africa's largest refineries, the Dangote Refinery, can now be made using stablecoins on the Solana blockchain. The IPO will offer roughly 3 percent of the company's shares and aims to raise about 1.6 billion dollars, which Solana says would make it the largest IPO ever in Africa. Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals FZE, which is carrying out the IPO, operates the world's largest single-train refinery in Nigeria; it began operations in 2024 and turned the country from a net importer of petroleum products into a net exporter. Subscriptions using stablecoins will be handled through the Nigeria-born financial app NectarFi, on infrastructure provided by the investment platform GetEquity. Investors will receive ordinary shares slated for listing on the Nigerian Exchange, and residents and nationals of Japan are in principle not permitted to subscribe.
Krungthai opens digital bond subscription for GULF at 2.70-2.95% via Paotang on 19 October
Krungthai Bank is preparing to open subscription for GULF digital bonds through the bond trading wallet on the Paotang application from 19 October 2026 at 08:30 to 21 October 2026 at 15:00, or until the full offering amount is sold. The bonds are registered, unsubordinated, unsecured, and have a bondholders' representative, with a 7-year term and interest of 2.70-2.95% per year, paid every 6 months. They have been assigned a credit rating of AA-/Stable by TRIS Rating. Investors can subscribe with a minimum of 1,000 baht, in multiples of 1,000 baht, up to a maximum of 50 million baht per subscription. Allocation follows a first-come, first-served basis. Ravin Boonyanusasna, head of the money and capital markets business group at Krungthai Bank, said the bank is partnering with Gulf Development Public Company Limited, or GULF, to offer these digital bonds, and believes they will be well received by investors because they make bond investing easier and more flexible, supporting trading in the secondary market around the clock. Investors receive the bonds immediately upon purchase and receive their money immediately upon sale. Those interested can register to use the bond trading wallet through the Paotang app starting today, and can fill in personal information and complete an investment suitability assessment in advance.
Robinhood to Add Redemptions and Voting Rights to Tokenized Stocks
Robinhood Markets says it will offer share redemptions and voting rights on its tokenized stocks, a move that comes as the online brokerage faces mounting criticism over its plans to put U.S. stocks on blockchain rails. "In-kind redemption and voting are coming for Robinhood Stock Tokens," CEO Vlad Tenev said in a social media post on Sept. 14, and the company later said it is actively working on redemptions for shares 1:1 with voting for eligible Stock Token holders. Robinhood has come under fire from movie theatre chain AMC Entertainment, which has called on the brokerage to stop offering a tokenized version of its stock, saying it never approved the tokenized version and that token holders lack the rights of other shareholders. Providing in-kind redemptions would let investors exchange a tokenized stock for a corresponding share, while voting rights should help ease investor concerns and give tokenized-stock holders the same rights as other shareholders. Crypto exchange Coinbase Global is also adding voting rights to its tokenized stock offerings, and its tokenized equities already support one-for-one redemptions with traditional shares.
Bitget Wallet Adds 1,700 Tokenized U.S. Stocks via Reality Integration
Bitget Wallet has integrated tokenized-asset protocol Reality, giving users of the self-custodial crypto wallet access to more than 1,700 tokenized stocks and exchange-traded funds. The addition, initially live on the Arbitrum and Morph chains, gives the wallet what the company called one of the broadest tokenized-equity line-ups available through a self-custodial wallet. Reality issues tokens known as rTokens that track more than 1,700 U.S. stocks and ETFs, each backed one-to-one by shares held at Alpaca Securities, a FINRA-registered, SIPC-member broker-dealer, with reserves attested daily by a third-party accounting firm. Bitget Wallet, which says it has 100 million users worldwide, already listed tokenized equities from Ondo and xStocks, and its real-world asset trading volume was said to have risen 27% in the second quarter from the previous three months, with Europe, South Asia and Southeast Asia among its biggest markets. Holders receive dividends in stablecoins directly to their wallets, corporate actions such as stock splits are applied automatically, and the tokens can be used within other decentralized-finance applications, including as collateral.
LDP caucus to take up prediction markets, with gambling law alignment in focus
The Digital Frontier Finance Parliamentary League, a caucus of lawmakers within Japan's Liberal Democratic Party, is expected to begin studying how to handle "prediction markets," where participants trade on forecasts of future events such as election results and economic indicators, according to party officials interviewed by NADA NEWS. The caucus was established in 2023 by developing and dissolving the Commodity Futures Trading Promotion Parliamentary League, which had worked to promote commodity futures trading, and includes online banks, securities firms, and crypto asset exchanges among its participants. In prediction markets, Kalshi and Polymarket of the United States are the leading players, with monthly trading volume reaching the tens of billions of dollars, and some forecasts see the market hitting 1 trillion dollars by 2030. On the other hand, the New York State Attorney General filed suit on April 21, arguing that the prediction market services of Coinbase and Gemini are illegal gambling that violates state law, and sought a total of 3.4 billion dollars in damages. In Japan as well, at the House of Councillors Finance and Monetary Affairs Committee on April 21, opposition Democratic Party for the People Councillor Shuichi Harada raised prediction markets in the Diet for the first time, and Toshitake Inoue, Director-General of the Financial Services Agency's Planning and Markets Bureau, said the agency currently has no regulatory law covering them, adding that given the risk they could be regarded as gambling, "we need to respond with extreme caution." Under current law, a mechanism in which people stake their own funds and vie for gains or losses of property depending on the outcome cannot be ruled out as falling under the criminal offense of gambling, so the barriers to introducing or expanding such businesses remain high. Still, a party official said it is highly significant that an LDP parliamentary caucus has decided to treat prediction markets as one of its discussion topics, and revealed that executives from Kalshi and Polymarket are planning to visit Japan soon.
MTS GOLD partners with kubix to complete Thailand's first gold-backed digital token offering, offering 3% annual returns
The MTS GOLD group, also known as Mae Thong Suk, together with Cubic Digital Asset Company Limited, or kubix, and seven other partners, announced the successful completion of the offering of the MTS Gold Investment Token, the first digital token for investment in the gold trading business in Thailand. Nattapong Hiranyasiri, Chief Executive Officer of Mae Thong Suk Central Company Limited, disclosed that the proceeds from the offering will be used to purchase 96.5% gold bars, with no less than 90% allocated as inventory for the gold bar trading business through the 13 branches of Mae Thong Suk Gold Shop in Bangkok and its vicinity, while no more than 10% will be used as working capital in the business. Investors are entitled to a fixed return of 3.00% per year, paid once a year, throughout the three-year project term, along with the opportunity to receive an additional special bonus return upon the project's maturity if the average gold selling price at the close of the project is higher than the average gold purchase price at the start of the project, and they will receive their full initial investment back. Assawinee Srisomboonnanon, Managing Director of kubix under Orbix Group in the financial business group of Kasikorn Bank, said that this project reflects the power of ecosystem collaboration within the Orbix Group and is expected to serve as a model for other Thai businesses to raise funds through digital tokens. The token requires the issuer to maintain liquid current assets valued at no less than the funds raised throughout the project term, with monthly audits by kubix throughout the project.
Coinbase Jumps 8.7% as Senate Prepares CLARITY Act Vote and Compass Point Upgrades to Neutral
Coinbase shares jumped 8.7% in the afternoon session after the Senate prepared for a crucial floor vote on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, prompting Compass Point to upgrade the cryptocurrency exchange operator to Neutral from Sell amid a broader recovery in Bitcoin prices. According to Dow Jones Newswires, the procedural vote centers on a revised 635-page bill that aims to establish a clear regulatory framework for digital assets in the U.S., incorporating new ethics restrictions and stablecoin safeguards to win bipartisan support. Compass Point analyst Ed Engel upgraded Coinbase's stock and raised his price target to $177, noting that his base case expects the bill to fail its initial 60-vote cloture threshold but arguing that even if the legislation stalls, regulatory exemptions and tokenized equities are likely to advance next year regardless. Engel also cited a cyclical rebound in Bitcoin as a key driver lifting the overall outlook for digital asset platforms, with Bitcoin trading up roughly 2% and moving above $79,000 as of this writing. Coinbase is down 20% since the beginning of the year, and at $189.16 per share it is trading 51.2% below its 52-week high of $387.27 from October 2025.
Robinhood to Add Real-Share Conversion and Voting Rights for Stock Tokens After Criticism Over Holder Rights
Robinhood announced it will add the ability for Stock Token holders to convert their tokens into real shares and exercise voting rights, following heavy criticism over the rights of those token holders. Meanwhile, Bitcoin rebounded above 77,800 dollars and traded in a range of 76,636 to 79,600 dollars, still capped by key resistance at 80,000 dollars. Crypto markets and trading volumes have picked up again. Investors are watching the CLARITY Act draft legislation as well as the next meeting of the U.S. central bank, the Fed.
Coinbase CEO Says CLARITY Act Nears Finish Line Ahead of Sept. 15 Senate Vote
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong told Bloomberg Thursday that the CLARITY Act is nearing the finish line ahead of a Sept. 15 Senate vote, with banks, law enforcement groups and crypto companies all endorsing it. Armstrong, speaking from the Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai, said he is confident the bill will pass but added that even a failed vote would not leave the industry without clarity, since the SEC and the CFTC have said they are ready to publish rulemaking. He called passage of the CLARITY Act a regulatory checkbox that could unlock institutional capital and pave the way for tokenized equities in the U.S., describing it as a big milestone for the industry. On Bitcoin, Armstrong said he personally believes the cycle bottom is already in and expects the cryptocurrency to trend higher over the coming year or two as the next halving approaches. He also told CNBC's Squawk Box Asia that about half of Coinbase's revenue comes from trading, which has been down for the past year, pushing the company to diversify into stocks, commodities and foreign exchange, while the other half comes from subscriptions and services led by USD Coin stablecoins. Armstrong said he expects the stablecoin market to grow from roughly $300 billion today to $3 trillion by 2030, and cited stablecoin payments on Base up 700% year over year, prediction markets growing 100% quarter over quarter on the Coinbase app, tokenized equities launched in Abu Dhabi with real shareholder rights, and 90% of agentic finance payments running on Base.
Circle Opens Arc Mainnet With BlackRock and Visa as Validators
Circle opened the public mainnet of Arc, its Layer 1 payments network, on Wednesday with 11 founding validators drawn from traditional finance, including BlackRock, Visa, Mastercard, Galaxy, SBI Group, and Standard Chartered. The company raised $222 million in an Arc token presale at a $3 billion valuation, and gas on the chain is paid in USDC rather than a volatile native token, with Circle designing Arc around payments, foreign exchange, and tokenized securities. Speculators have spent recent weeks mapping Arc launchpads and pre-mainnet tokens, betting the chain's opening week will resemble the meme coin rush that overtook Robinhood Chain, the Arbitrum-based Layer 2 launched on July 1 around real-world assets. Within a week of that launch, meme coins set the pace, with decentralized exchange volume hitting a record $563.9 million on July 8 and traders creating 16,639 tokens in a single day, before the chain cleared $1.06 billion in daily DEX volume on August 29 and peaked at a new all-time high of $3.7 billion earlier this month. USDC already carries a $74.2 billion market cap, and the first week of trading should show whether bankers or degens get there faster.
FCA Weighs Exemption to Free Tokenized Gold From UK Fund Rules
The Financial Conduct Authority is weighing whether to lift tokenized gold out of the UK's fund rulebook entirely, a move that could change how London's bullion vaults are used. The regulator will set out the idea on Monday, the Financial Times reported, saying it could work with the Treasury on a targeted exemption from the collective investment scheme and alternative investment fund perimeter, covering certain gold tokens or gold market infrastructure. Industry participants had told the FCA that uncertainty over whether tokenized gold falls within those regimes, both of which restrict who can buy them, could hinder its development. The stakes are national: the World Gold Council puts London's share of global gold trading volumes near 70%, while China is building a rival bullion hub and chasing the same flows. Both leading gold tokens are issued outside the UK perimeter, with Tether Gold backing $2.63 billion in distributed asset value and Pax Gold backing $1.87 billion, according to RWA.xyz, while monthly transfer volume reached $3.70 billion for XAUT and $1.61 billion for PAXG, up 10.91% and 14.10% over 30 days. The FCA believes the move could unlock more of London's bullion reserves for use as collateral, and the Bank of England will consult later this year on whether to allow clearing houses to accept tokenized collateral, while also considering adding tokenised assets, including stablecoins, to its Sterling Monetary Framework. FCA officials say no decisions have been made, and whether an exemption reaches retail buyers or stops at the wholesale desks that pledge collateral remains to be seen.
Nasdaq Invests $100 Million in Kraken Parent Payward, Tokenized Equity NET to Launch in Q2 2027
Nasdaq and Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, announced on September 10, 2026 an expansion of their partnership on tokenized equities, built on three pillars: a $100 million investment by Nasdaq Ventures, continued work by both companies on the framework for Nasdaq Equity Token, or NET, and a market surveillance agreement. NET is a tokenized equity designed with the involvement of listed companies themselves, and its launch is planned for the second quarter of 2027. Payward will use the xStocks mechanism to make NET available on public blockchains, will handle trade settlement in eligible countries for an initial period, and its B2B unit Payward Services will take charge of user identity verification and anti-money-laundering measures. As of September 2026, xStocks covered 715 tickers, with cumulative trading volume rising from more than $25 billion as of March 2026 to more than $40 billion as of September 1, while holders grew from more than 85,000 to more than 200,000. Holders, however, do not have shareholder rights and are not entitled to voting rights or dividends. Nasdaq's rule change for tokenized trading, filed in September 2025, was approved by the SEC on March 18, 2026, and DTC's service is scheduled to begin in October 2026.
CME Sues CFTC Over Perpetual Futures as $93 Trillion Market Looms
CME Group sued the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on June 18 to classify perpetual futures as swaps rather than futures, after the CFTC accepted KalshiEX's bitcoin perpetual contract as a futures contract on May 29. Bank of America estimates crypto perpetual trading will reach over $93 trillion in 2025, almost five times the size of the underlying crypto spot market, with CoinGecko putting combined centralized and decentralized perpetual volume at roughly $92.9 trillion. Bank of America rates CME Underperform with a $230 price target, but argues the exchange could benefit whether it wins, loses, or merely slows the regulatory process, since a win would impose swap-dealer registration and stricter margin standards on perps while a loss would leave CME's exclusive futures license agreements for the S&P 500, Nasdaq-100, and Russell 2000 protecting its index franchise. The bank names Intercontinental Exchange its top exchange pick with a Buy rating and $232 price target, citing its institutional client base and March investment in crypto platform OKX at a $25 billion valuation, and rates Cboe Neutral with a $354 price target after the stock fell about 30% between May 15 and June 30.
Tokenized Stocks Monthly Trading Volume Tops 1 Trillion Yen for First Time, Binance Research Finds
Binance Research, the research arm of crypto exchange Binance, published a report on September 11 stating that monthly trading volume in tokenized stocks reached 7.9 billion dollars in August, or about 1.185 trillion yen. That marks a more than 33-fold increase over seven months from 237 million dollars in January, and it is the first time monthly trading volume has surpassed 1 trillion yen. The market capitalization of stock tokens in circulation also rose from 965 million dollars at the start of the year to about 4 billion dollars as of September 9. Trading volume is concentrated in services with existing customer bases: Binance's stock token BStocks and Robinhood accounted for 82.3% of the research coverage in August, up from 0.8% in June, and reached 87.8% month-to-date through September 9. Use in decentralized finance is also advancing, including borrowing funds against stock tokens as collateral, with assets under custody in DeFi rising from 21.6 million dollars at the start of the year to 289.1 million dollars on September 9. Binance Research notes that market competition is shifting from token issuance toward circulation and utilization.
Robinhood Targets Half of Revenue From Abroad and Institutions
Robinhood Markets is pursuing a strategy centered on expanding access to financial asset ownership, with priorities spanning active trading, broader consumer financial services and international infrastructure, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Vlad Tenev said during a discussion hosted by Goldman Sachs. Tenev reiterated the company's longer-term goal for half of its revenue to come from outside the U.S. and half from institutional customers, and said tokenization could accelerate progress toward those targets. Robinhood Chain, the company's tokenization platform, offers roughly 200 tokenized U.S. stocks, called stock tokens, that Tenev said are backed one-to-one and available in more than 120 countries outside the U.S., with additional assets planned. He said recent activity on the chain has included billions of dollars of daily trading volume and gross revenue that reached as high as $6 million in a single day, though he declined to annualize that figure. Tenev also described wealth management as an expanding opportunity, pointing to managed accounts through Robinhood Strategies, human advice through TradePMR, banking products, credit cards and retirement accounts, and said the company expects more than $100 trillion in wealth to change hands from older generations to younger generations over coming decades. Robinhood is serving as the initial broker and trustee for Trump Accounts, which he described as accounts intended to allow children to invest in an S&P 500 exchange-traded fund, with accounts for children born in 2025 receiving a $1,000 contribution from the U.S. Treasury. The company is also broadening its agentic-trading tools, which let artificial-intelligence agents connect to a customer's Robinhood account through an interface known as the Robinhood MCP, and plans to announce additional active-trader products at an event in Houston later in the month.
India's SEBI launches tokenized bond 'Demat 2.0'; three issuers raise a combined 10.25 billion rupees
The Securities and Exchange Board of India announced on the 10th that it has launched "Demat 2.0," a pilot project to tokenize corporate bonds. According to the announcement, three companies have already issued tokenized bonds, with total issuance reaching 10.25 billion Indian rupees, or about 16.5 billion yen. The breakdown: on September 7, 2026, REC Limited raised 5 billion Indian rupees from 18 investors; on the 9th of the same month, L&T Limited raised 5 billion Indian rupees from 4 investors, and IIFL raised 250 million Indian rupees from a single investor. Demat 2.0 is a mechanism for issuing corporate bonds as digital tokens on a distributed ledger, linked to the Reserve Bank of India's wholesale central bank digital currency, with smart contracts automating interest payments and redemptions. SEBI asserted that India is the first country to meet the characteristics of native issuance on a distributed ledger, ownership records maintained by the national depository, settlement in CBDC, and operation within existing market infrastructure. The project will proceed in stages, with plans to expand to trading on the existing RFQ platform and to provide access for individual investors.
Robinhood Stock Tokens Face Regulatory Scrutiny as AMC CEO Objects
Robinhood Markets' push into tokenized equities is drawing fresh scrutiny after AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron objected to a Robinhood-linked token referencing AMC shares without the company's approval, while Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev defended the structure, saying companies do not control third-party products that reference their shares. The dispute matters because tokenization is central to Robinhood's international expansion strategy: its new Stock Tokens, issued by Robinhood Assets (Jersey) Limited, cover more than 190 U.S. stocks and ETFs and are available through Robinhood Wallet in more than 120 countries, while the company separately offers more than 2,000 Classic Stock Tokens to eligible European customers with 24/5 trading. Robinhood's filings state that Stock Tokens are tokenized debt securities providing economic exposure but no legal or beneficial ownership or voting rights, are not registered under U.S. securities laws, and are restricted in markets including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. Robinhood has acknowledged that the Securities and Exchange Commission could assert jurisdiction because the referenced assets are U.S. securities, and the Bank of Lithuania has sought clarifications on its European tokenized-stock offerings. With more than 1 million international funded customers, $384 billion in platform assets and 28.6 million funded customers, regulatory friction is likely to raise compliance costs and delay execution, though it is unlikely to derail HOOD's broader growth.
Thai SEC Advances TISA, Streamlines IPO Process and Digital Assets to Elevate Thailand's Investment Market
The Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, has announced it is pressing ahead with a range of measures to elevate Thailand's investment market, aiming to build resilience and address structural problems for long-term sustainability. SEC Secretary-General Prof. Dr. Pornanong Budsaratragoon said the SEC, together with the Ministry of Finance, the Federation of Thai Capital Market Organizations, or FETCO, and the Stock Exchange of Thailand, is driving the Thai Individual Savings Account, or TISA, project, which serves as savings infrastructure that helps investors turn savings into long-term investment. At the same time, the SEC has streamlined the approval process for initial public offerings of newly issued shares, targeting a reduction in IPO review time to 60 to 100 days from an average of 147 days, a decrease of 30 to 60 percent. Together with the Stock Exchange of Thailand, it is also pushing the BOI to IPO project to attract New Economy businesses to the capital market through revised securities listing criteria and a Special Track for companies promoted by the Board of Investment and the Eastern Economic Corridor. On digital assets, the SEC is promoting securities tokenization, with the relevant rules taking effect on April 1, 2026, and has issued Travel Rule regulations that will take effect from February 27, 2027. Meanwhile, a concept for regulating stablecoin transactions through digital asset business operators is under public consultation with the Anti-Money Laundering Office, or AMLO, and the Bank of Thailand. On law enforcement, the longest case duration has fallen from 8 years to 3.6 years, and the average case duration from 2.3 years to 1.5 years. Currently, five sets of laws are being revised, all of which have been approved in principle by the Cabinet.
SEC pushes TISA, speeds up IPO review to 60-100 days
The Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, is pressing ahead with driving Thailand's investment market by promoting the Thai Individual Savings Account project, or TISA, together with the Ministry of Finance, the Thai Capital Market Business Council, and the Stock Exchange of Thailand, to serve as the country's savings infrastructure, aiming to turn people's savings into long-term investment and broaden the base of new investors. SEC Secretary-General Pornanong Budsaratragoon said the SEC has also adjusted the process for approving initial public offering share sales under the Streamline IPO Process guidelines, placing greater weight on disclosure in order to cut the review period to 60-100 days from an average of 147 days previously, a reduction of roughly 30-60%. At the same time, the SEC, together with the Stock Exchange of Thailand, is pushing the BOI to IPO project and setting up a special channel for companies promoted by the Board of Investment and the Eastern Economic Corridor, in order to draw new-economy businesses into the Thai capital market. On the digital capital market, the SEC is promoting the tokenization of securities, with rules for tokenized fund units having taken effect since April 1, 2026. As for anti-money laundering risk measures, the Travel Rule regulations will take effect from February 27, 2027. On investment scams, the SEC can act to intercept them within 7 minutes to 48 hours and block reported accounts completely, at 100%. Statistics in 2026 show that consultations about investment scams rose as much as threefold compared with the same period a year earlier. On law enforcement, data as of August 2026 shows that the longest case age fell from 8 years to 3.6 years, while the average case age dropped from 2.3 years to 1.5 years. Currently, a total of five sets of laws are in the process of being revised.
Robinhood Chain hits record with $900 million in assets, but stock tokens hold just $150 million
Assets held on Robinhood Chain, the proprietary blockchain run by major U.S. online brokerage Robinhood, have reached about $900 million, hovering at a record high. Roughly two months after it went live on July 1, decentralized exchange trading volume hit about $11.1 billion over the past seven days, up more than 30% week over week, and on September 1 fee revenue logged a record $3.75 million, surpassing Ethereum itself and the layer-2 network Base. Yet although the chain was built to tokenize real-world assets such as stocks, the money actually flowing in is going to meme coins and stablecoins, with assets deposited in stock tokens amounting to just $150 million, a tiny fraction of the chain's total. In the stock token market, Ondo Finance leads with about $957 million, followed by Binance's bStocks at about $622 million and Kraken-owned xStocks at about $600 million, with these three firms accounting for roughly 77% of the market. Robinhood's share price rose about 36% in August and stood at around $111 a share as of September 11.
OKX launches pre-IPO trading for OpenAI and Anthropic in Europe
Crypto exchange OKX said on September 10 that it has begun offering "pre-IPO X-Perps" in the European market that track the enterprise value of OpenAI and Anthropic. The product is not the companies' shares themselves but a derivative tied to changes in their enterprise value, allowing investors to use leverage of up to 10x and trade both long and short, though it grants no actual shares, voting rights, or rights to acquire future shares. Similar products are also offered by Hyperliquid and Binance, which run markets linked to OpenAI and Anthropic, and the trend is spreading across other crypto exchanges. Separately, OKX has also begun handling tokenized equities in Europe, offering round-the-clock, year-round trading in 100 markets including shares of SpaceX, Alphabet, NVIDIA, and Palantir, as well as SPY and QQQ. These track the underlying asset prices but do not confer actual shares or voting rights, and some can be transferred to a self-custody wallet and held there, according to OKX.
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev Open to Truce With AMC CEO Adam Aron After Tokenization Feud
Robinhood co-founder and CEO Vlad Tenev said he is open to a truce with AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron after the two executives waged a fierce public war of words on X over the brokerage's extensive use of stock tokens that track AMC shares. Aron ignited the dispute by blasting tokenization, the practice of issuing digital versions of assets such as stocks on a blockchain network, as contemptible, vile and disgusting, demanding a cease-and-desist order while threatening legal action. Tenev fired back by asking what the concern was, insisting that Robinhood's debt-backed derivatives do not require permission from the underlying companies. Speaking to Yahoo Finance from the Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Tech Conference in San Francisco, Tenev doubled down on his assertion that tokenization is the future of modern finance and that executives like Aron are missing the greater good. Asked whether a resolution was in sight, Tenev said he was not sure and noted the company is working on so many things, stopping short of promising a public cooling off between the two chief executives, each of whom has fierce retail investor defenders on social media.
Coinbase CEO Armstrong Reaffirms $400,000 Bitcoin Target by 2030
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong reaffirmed in a September 10 interview that he still sees Bitcoin reaching $400,000 by 2030, calling it a reasonable target. Armstrong said he believes the bottom of the current roughly four-year cycle is already in, noting Bitcoin recently found support around the $60,000 area before recovering and that the down period has just passed the one-year mark. He pointed to the CLARITY Act as a key potential catalyst, saying clearer U.S. crypto regulation would be a big milestone that could unlock institutional capital and bring tokenized equities to the United States. Armstrong also tied Bitcoin's outlook to rising government spending and debt markets, arguing capital flows into Bitcoin like gold when spending gets out of control, and said regulated stablecoins following the GENIUS Act are now structural buyers of U.S. government debt. He added that the next Bitcoin halving, expected in 2028, has historically been preceded by price run-ups, and that the next year or two should be good for Bitcoin. Bitcoin was trading at $77,706 at press time.
Bybit Wins European E-Money License To Launch Super App
Bybit plans to launch a new super app in Europe that will offer both a regular bank account and stock and crypto trading. The privately held Dubai-based exchange, which claims more than 80 million users worldwide, has been granted an electronic money institution license by European regulators, enabling the launch for the European market. Bybit also holds a Markets in Crypto Assets license in Austria. The company said it aims to combine the offerings of financial technology firms and online brokerages into one super app, and going forward plans to give European users traditional bank accounts plus the ability to trade derivatives, tokenized stocks, and digital assets such as Bitcoin. Bybit has partnered with rival crypto exchange Kraken's xStocks for tokenized equities, and a launch date for the new super app has not been announced.