Coinbase Unveils Direct Ownership Tokenized US Stocks on Base Blockchain

Coinbase has announced plans to launch tokenized US stocks on its Base blockchain platform. The new offering will allow users to purchase and trade fractions of actual US company shares, with automatic dividend payments and onchain settlement.

The products will be available only to eligible users outside the United States initially, pending regulatory clarity domestically. CEO Brian Armstrong emphasized that this is a direct ownership product, not a derivative or IOU, claiming 'For the first time, these are real 1:1 backed tokenized stocks you can trust.' The platform will handle corporate actions automatically.

Coinbase is positioning itself as a wider financial platform, signaling ambitions across trading and financial services. This move intensifies the competition in the market for tokenized stock products, with other exchanges like Kraken, Robinhood, Gemini, Bybit, BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, JPMorgan, and Citi exploring similar offerings.

The value proposition for non-US investors is access to US equities through blockchain-based platforms that settle instantly and operate around the clock. However, whether Coinbase's architecture delivers genuine ownership rights will be clearer when the full product terms are disclosed ahead of launch.