What are tokenized stocks and how do they work?

Tokenized stocks are digital tokens, recorded on a blockchain, that represent or track shares of a publicly listed company. The basic idea is to let a share move like a cryptocurrency, so it can trade at any hour and settle quickly. What a buyer actually owns depends on how the token is built, which is the key question for any tokenized stocks platform. The wider trend is covered in the guide to what tokenization is.

What is the meaning of tokenized stocks?

A tokenized stock is a token tied to one share of a company. In the most common setup, a regulated broker or custodian buys and holds the real shares, and tokens are issued against them on a one-for-one basis. When a token moves between wallets, the claim on the underlying share moves with it.

Not every product sold under this name works that way. Some are derivative contracts between the customer and the platform. These follow the share price but do not give the holder the share itself.

How do tokenized stocks compare with traditional stocks?

A traditional share is usually held through a broker and recorded in the conventional market system, and most trading happens during exchange hours.

A tokenized stock can trade around the clock on some venues and can sit in a crypto wallet. The tradeoff is added dependence on the intermediary holding the real shares and on the token's legal terms.

Shareholder rights are where the two can differ most. Robinhood's European help pages say its stock tokens are derivative contracts and that holders do not own the underlying stock, so they do not get voting rights, although they can receive dividends when eligible.

How do tokenized stocks on Robinhood and Coinbase work?

Robinhood launched stock tokens for eligible customers in the European Union on June 30, 2025, according to The Block. They were built on the Arbitrum network, and The Block reported that holders receive dividends through the app.

Coinbase announced its own tokenized US stocks in June 2026, describing them as backed one-for-one by real shares and paying dividends automatically. On August 24, 2026, it began offering tokens for Apple, Nvidia, Meta and Alphabet to eligible users outside the United States, on its Base network. According to Opalesque, the underlying shares are held by the broker and custodian Alpaca in a structure designed to be separate from the company's own assets in a bankruptcy.

What is the SEC's Innovation Exemption for tokenized stocks?

On September 17, 2026, the US Securities and Exchange Commission issued a temporary exemption, lasting five years, that lets venues it calls Tokenized Securities Venues trade tokenized versions of listed US stocks through automated pools without registering as an exchange.

The tokens must give holders the same rights as an ordinary share of the same class, and price-tracking synthetic products are not covered. When a token is created by a third party without the company's involvement, the venue must notify the company, which can object. Decrypt reported that companies get 30 days to do so.

OKXICE, a joint venture between the crypto exchange OKX and NYSE owner Intercontinental Exchange, has told the SEC it plans to trade tokenized versions of more than 60 US stocks around the clock against stablecoins.

Crypto prices are volatile and a token can lose most of its value.