Binance opens 7,000 U.S. stocks, plans tokenized bStocks

On Monday Binance made more than 7,000 U.S. stocks and ETFs available for trading to non‑U.S. customers. The company said trades for those users will carry no commission and fractional purchases will start at $5.

Binance said stock orders will be routed through broker‑dealer Nest Trading, while New York‑based Alpaca Securities will provide custody, dividend distribution and corporate‑action services. Customers will be able to fund purchases with USDC, USDT, BNB and other digital assets.

The exchange outlined a forthcoming feature called bStocks that will let customers mint tokenized, synthetic versions of the equities they hold on the BNB blockchain. Binance said users will be able to initiate the tokenization process themselves when the feature launches in the coming weeks.

Binance co‑CEO Richard Teng described the stock offering as part of plans to build a “multi‑asset financial super app.”

Industry participants raised operational and regulatory questions about tokenized equities. Ivan Patriki, co‑founder of Quantmap, warned about who would guarantee redeemability, how token prices would track underlying shares when U.S. markets are closed, and how regulators would treat tokenized shares used as collateral in decentralized finance.

Misha Putiatin, co‑founder of Symbiotic, said tokenized equities could be combined with decentralized finance functions such as lending and collateral. Vytautas Mackonis, chief operating officer at ALCUM, described the structure as more complex than it appears, citing layered custody and multiple intermediaries that could create operational risk.

Regulatory actions are already influencing the tokenization field. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission delayed a proposed “innovation exemption” for tokenized assets, citing concerns about third‑party tokens and digital representations of shares that may be issued without a company’s approval and that could complicate dividends and shareholder voting.

Data show rising activity in tokenized stock products, with daily trading volumes near $1.68 billion and monthly transfer volumes near $3.63 billion, and an increasing number of holders in recent months. Separately, Nasdaq has partnered with Payward to develop tokenized equities with a targeted 2027 production date, and Kraken has launched regulated tokenized equity perpetual futures for eligible non‑U.S. users.