The SEC Has Given the Green Light to Tokenized Stock Trading. These 2 Crypto Stocks Will Be the Big Winners.
Key Points
The SEC is temporarily allowing some crypto companies to offer trading of tokenized stocks.
Coinbase and Robinhood are both looking to grow their revenue by promoting tokenized stock trading.
There are still a few regulatory issues for those players to navigate before they can make significant money from their U.S. operations.
On Sept. 17, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) granted a five-year exemption to the crypto industry that allows certain exchanges to offer tokenized versions of stocks for trading. Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ: HOOD) and Coinbase Global (NASDAQ: COIN) are both well-positioned to profit, but one has a big lead on the other.
Let's see what the stakes of the competition are, and then get into how these two players are planning to win this emerging space.
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Tokenization is still in its infancy
Tokenization is the process of adding ownership records to tokens stored on a blockchain. This is useful because it means that the assets can be traded 24/7 and generally settle transactions very rapidly compared to the alternatives.
The consulting firm Oliver Wyman recently estimated that the market for tokenized traditional assets will expand from around $40 billion today to reach approximately $2.3 trillion by 2030. As of Sept. 28, all the tradeable tokenized stocks in existence were worth $3.2 billion, up from $368.5 million one year ago.
Many major blockchains have the technical infrastructure necessary to support tokenization, including Coinbase's Base chain and Robinhood's Robinhood Chain.
Aside from the technical features needed, tokenizing assets usually entails a large paperwork burden to address issues like regulatory compliance and asset custody. That means smaller crypto native players are often at a disadvantage relative to larger businesses that are more established in the traditional financial sector, as those businesses are more accustomed to working in a highly regulated environment.
Which company will gain more from tokenized stock trading?
Both Robinhood and Coinbase compete in crypto. Robinhood's main line of business stems from its retail brokerage for trading non-tokenized stocks, which gives it a head start here.
Its set of 301 tokenized stocks was worth $148.8 million as of Sept. 28. Robinhood issues the tokenized assets on its own blockchain, Robinhood Chain, which was launched in July 2026. Importantly, the company retains about 89% of the crypto transaction fees it collects, which accrue to its revenue. Those fees were worth $35.6 million in the first 28 days of September alone.
Its stock tokens are debt securities that carry no voting rights, which some believe may make them fall outside the SEC's new framework. Robinhood's CEO, Vlad Tenev, has said that the ability to perform redemptions and exercise voting rights is coming.
Coinbase's product, on the other hand, presently fits the new rules more closely. That could end up giving it a first-mover advantage if there's a delay with Robinhood getting its ducks in a row.
Its $8.4 million worth of stock tokens are launched on its own blockchain, Base, and they've been available since August 2026 for its non-U.S. customers. They're also backed by real shares, held at a regulated U.S. broker, and already redeemable for the underlying shares. According to Coinbase's CEO Brian Armstrong, shareholder voting rights are coming soon.
One snag for Coinbase is its plumbing. Its exchange uses an order book much like a traditional stock exchange, but the SEC framework is built around a different system for matching buyers and sellers, specifically automated market makers (AMMs). Coinbase would need new systems, or it would have to route trades to AMM-based apps on Base. Base's fees are also quite modest, totaling just $4.3 million for September through the 28th.
Today, Robinhood still looks like the better choice to buy to get upside from tokenization.
Though it has a couple of obstacles to navigate to please the SEC, it already has a larger pool of tokenized stocks, and a chain that has earned far more in fees, mostly from meme coin trading. Coinbase, in contrast, seems to be signaling about its desire to compete in tokenized assets much more than it is currently actually doing. With that being said, it'll likely be able to navigate the regulatory issues needed to also benefit tremendously from tokenization, so it might not be behind Robinhood for long.
Alex Carchidi has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Coinbase Global. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.