
Tokenized stocks allow investors to gain exposure to publicly traded equities and ETFs through blockchain platforms without traditional brokerage accounts. Bitget and Kraken have emerged as leading platforms in this space, offering products like Bitget's rTokens and Kraken's xStocks that track the economic performance of US-listed assets. These tokens are typically backed 1:1 by underlying securities held in custody, providing a bridge between traditional finance and crypto ecosystems. Bitget, utilizing the Reality Protocol, offers over 500 tokenized assets with 24/7 trading capabilities, while Kraken allows for fractional ownership and on-chain withdrawals. Despite these benefits, these tokens do not grant users direct shareholder rights, such as voting, and carry counterparty risks related to the issuer and custodian. The market for these assets is expanding as platforms integrate them into broader crypto services like margin trading and automated strategies. This evolution matters for the RWA market because it demonstrates how institutional-grade assets can be made accessible to global crypto users through continuous, fractionalized, and stablecoin-denominated trading environments.
Tokenized stocks are digital representations of traditional equities or ETFs issued on blockchain networks. They function by holding the underlying physical shares in a regulated brokerage or custody account, then issuing a corresponding digital token to the investor. This structure allows for fractional ownership, 24/7 trading, and seamless integration into decentralized finance ecosystems.