#Alpaca
8 articles tagged #Alpaca — curated RWA tokenization coverage.
Crypto.com Launches the Future of Trading With Tokenized Stocks
Crypto.com has officially launched Tokenized Stocks, enabling users to gain exposure to 1,500 U.S. equities and ETFs directly through its mobile application. This new product allows for fractional investments starting at just US$1, providing 24/7 trading capabilities that bypass traditional market hours. The tokens function as derivative financial instruments that track the price performance of underlying assets like NVDA, TSLA, and AAPL, as well as commodity ETFs such as GLD and SLV. While these tokens do not grant legal ownership or shareholder rights, they offer dividend equivalent adjustments to eligible holders. The underlying assets are held in custody by Alpaca, a U.S. regulated broker-dealer that currently supports over 90% of the tokenized U.S. stock market. This launch represents a significant step in bridging traditional equity markets with blockchain-based infrastructure to enhance liquidity and accessibility. By offering instant access and fast settlement, Crypto.com aims to modernize the investment experience for users across the EEA and other approved global jurisdictions.
Gate Partners with Alpaca to Support Their Expansion Into U.S. Stocks and ETFs, IPO Access, and Tokenized Stocks
Gate.io has entered a strategic partnership with Alpaca to broaden its financial service offerings, specifically targeting U.S. stocks, ETFs, and IPO access. This collaboration leverages Alpaca’s brokerage infrastructure to enable Gate.io to provide its global user base with regulated access to traditional equity markets. A core component of this integration involves the development and support of tokenized stocks, allowing users to gain exposure to U.S. equities through blockchain-based assets. By bridging the gap between centralized brokerage services and decentralized finance, the partnership aims to lower barriers to entry for international investors seeking U.S. market participation. This move signifies a growing trend among major crypto exchanges to diversify their product suites by incorporating regulated real-world assets. The integration of Alpaca’s API-driven platform ensures that Gate.io can maintain compliance while scaling its tokenized product offerings. Ultimately, this development highlights the increasing institutional demand for hybrid financial products that combine the efficiency of blockchain technology with the stability of traditional U.S. equity markets.
Alpaca Secures $435M To Expand Tokenized Brokerage Infrastructure
Alpaca, a provider of brokerage infrastructure, has successfully raised $435 million in a new funding round to accelerate its expansion into tokenized financial services. This capital injection brings the company's total funding to over $500 million, signaling strong investor confidence in the firm's role as a foundational layer for digital asset trading. By enhancing its API-driven platform, Alpaca aims to support the growing institutional demand for tokenizing traditional assets such as stocks, bonds, and real estate. The company provides the necessary back-end infrastructure that allows financial firms to build compliant trading applications and digital asset platforms. This development is significant for the RWA market as it highlights the critical need for robust, regulatory-compliant technology to bridge the gap between conventional finance and blockchain networks. As major banks and asset managers increasingly explore on-chain asset representation, Alpaca's infrastructure is positioned to facilitate the next wave of financial innovation. The funding round reflects a broader maturation of the crypto brokerage sector, emphasizing the importance of scalable tools in enabling diverse, tokenized investment products for end users.
Crypto promised to eliminate stockbrokers, but 94% of its tokenized market now relies on an Alpaca
Alpaca, a California-based broker-dealer, currently custodies over $1.5 billion in underlying shares for tokenized equities, representing approximately 94% of the market. Despite the industry's promise of decentralization and disintermediation, the tokenized stock ecosystem relies heavily on Alpaca as a central clearing and custody provider for major platforms like Binance, Kraken, Ondo, and Dinari. This concentration creates significant counterparty risk, as most third-party tokenized stocks offer only economic exposure rather than direct legal ownership or voting rights. The market faces further scrutiny following the failed SpaceX pre-IPO token offering, which highlighted the fragility of inventory promises across the intermediary chain. Meanwhile, the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) is set to launch its commercial Tokenization Service in October, which aims to provide tokens with direct legal rights and dividends. By originating tokens within the traditional settlement infrastructure, the DTCC's entry threatens to disrupt the current brokerage-dependent model. This shift marks a pivotal transition from fragmented, third-party tokenization to institutional-grade, regulated digital assets.
Crypto Brokerage Firm Alpaca Raises $135 Million for Tokenized Stock Infrastructure
Crypto brokerage firm Alpaca has successfully secured $135 million in a funding round to accelerate the development of its tokenized stock infrastructure. This capital injection aims to bridge the gap between traditional equity markets and blockchain technology by enabling the issuance and trading of tokenized securities. By leveraging its existing regulatory framework and brokerage capabilities, Alpaca intends to provide institutional-grade infrastructure for global financial participants. The move signifies a growing trend where established fintech entities are pivoting toward distributed ledger technology to enhance settlement efficiency and market accessibility. For the RWA market, this development represents a significant step toward the mainstream adoption of tokenized equities, potentially reducing friction in cross-border trading. As Alpaca scales its operations, the integration of tokenized assets into broader crypto ecosystems could unlock new liquidity pools for retail and institutional investors alike. This investment underscores the increasing confidence venture capital firms have in the long-term viability of tokenized financial instruments.
Alpaca and Broadridge Announce Governance Solution for Tokenized Securities
Alpaca and Broadridge Financial Solutions have announced a strategic partnership to integrate institutional-grade governance infrastructure into Alpaca's Instant Tokenization Network. This collaboration enables essential shareholder functions such as proxy voting, investor communications, and voting entitlement reconciliation for both traditional and tokenized equities. By bridging the gap between blockchain-based assets and established capital market standards, the solution ensures that investors maintain their rights and regulatory protections regardless of the underlying asset structure. The integration addresses the growing complexity of maintaining accurate shareholder records as tokenized assets are issued across diverse blockchain networks. Broadridge leverages its extensive experience in processing communications for over 200 million investor accounts to provide auditability and accountability for these digital securities. This development is significant for the RWA market as it demonstrates a shift toward professionalizing tokenized equity infrastructure to meet institutional compliance requirements. Ultimately, the partnership aims to facilitate broader adoption of tokenized investment products by ensuring they operate with the same transparency and operational integrity as traditional financial instruments.
Alpaca raises $135M to fund tokenized agent
Brokerage infrastructure provider Alpaca has secured $135 million in a new funding round led by Peak XV, supplemented by up to $300 million in debt financing from Payward and BMO. This capital injection follows a $150 million Series D round in January that valued the fintech firm at $1.15 billion. The company intends to utilize these funds to scale its agent-first and API-first prime brokerage infrastructure, specifically targeting the growing demand for regulated onchain financial services. As tokenized stock market capitalization reaches a record $2.3 billion, Alpaca is positioning itself to support both DeFi and TradFi entities entering the space. The firm already provides critical clearing and custody infrastructure for Binance’s stock trading product, highlighting its role in bridging traditional assets with blockchain rails. This expansion reflects a broader industry trend where established brokerage providers are adapting their technology to accommodate the shift toward tokenized global markets. By integrating AI-native financial services with tokenization, Alpaca aims to capture the increasing volume of institutional and retail participants moving toward onchain investment products.
Binance discloses revenue
Binance has entered into a revenue-sharing agreement with brokerage infrastructure provider Alpaca, securing 50% of payment-for-order-flow fees and 65% of profits from user stock lending. This partnership supports Binance's expansion into tokenized US stocks and ETFs, a sector where Alpaca serves as a primary custodian. Alpaca currently manages $480 million in assets under custody, accounting for a 29% market share of the $1.62 billion tokenized stock industry. While the total value of tokenized stocks has grown by 29% recently, monthly active addresses have dropped by 77%, suggesting a shift toward long-term holding rather than active trading. This move highlights how major crypto exchanges are monetizing their transition into traditional financial products to meet investor demand. By integrating infrastructure like Alpaca, Binance aims to scale its bStocks product and broader equity offerings. The arrangement underscores the deepening integration between centralized crypto exchanges and regulated brokerage services to bridge digital and traditional asset markets.