Coinbase, Ondo:- The equity trading on blockchain is rapidly gaining momentum in web3. Not only equity tokenization specific projects are coming up, but the old and leading players of Web3 are also tapping onto the trend. Ondo Finance, till now a leader in tokenizing US treasury and Coinbase, the largest U.S. crypto exchange, are staking early claims in what many regard as the next big trend of Web3 finance: on-chain stock trading.

Coinbase has formally petitioned the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for permission to list tokenized U.S. equities on its platform. Meanwhile, Ondo Finance is driving a parallel initiative outside U.S. jurisdictions through the launch of its Global Markets Alliance.

Coinbase and Ondo Make Big Bets at Tokenized Equities

Traditional equity markets, long constrained by legacy infrastructures, are adopting blockchain’s promise of real-time settlement, fractional ownership, and global accessibility.

According to Reuters report, Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal has described tokenized stock trading as “a huge priority.” While revealing the approval petition, he noted that SEC approval would enable 24/7 trading with the speed and cost efficiencies inherent to blockchain technology.

Currently, U.S. regulations do not permit blockchain-based securities offerings. This means that Coinbase must secure broker-dealer registration or similar waivers to proceed. If successful, the exchange could extend its business model into the territory of traditional brokerage platforms, potentially competing with the likes of Robinhood and Kraken.

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Meanwhile, Ondo Finance is driving a parallel initiative outside U.S. jurisdictions through the launch of its Global Markets Alliance. Launched on June 17, Ondo’s coalition brings together major wallets (Trust Wallet, Bitget), liquidity providers (Jupiter, 1inch), custodians (BitGo, Fireblocks), and infrastructure partners including the Solana Foundation and Alpaca.

Further, the Alliance aslo plans to launch “Ondo Global Markets,”- a tokenization platgrom. It will allow wallets and decentralized applications to offer native, self-custodied trading of U.S. securities outside US.

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Partnerns in the Ondo Global Markets Alliance | Source: Blog Post

Total RWA TVL Hits $12 Billion

The momentum behind on-chain real-world asset (RWA) tokenization is already significant. According to the data from DefiLlama, the TVL in the Real World Assets (RWA) sector has reached to $12.76 billion. This marks an increase of over 46% from the beginning of the year when it was just $8.13 billion. As of June 19, 2025, Ondo’s TVL has also surpassed $1.397 billion, marking a new all-time high and signaling strong institutional uptake.

Further, the convergence of DeFi and TradFi through RWA tokenization could reshape capital markets over the next decade. With Coinbase awaiting a green light from the SEC and Ondo rallying a global consortium, the race to mainstream on-chain stock trading is clearly underway. Thus, the once-clear line between digital assets and traditional equities is blurring with round-the-clock working capital markets expected soon.

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