Alpaca’s Instant Tokenization Network clears 94% of tokenized US equities as infrastructure play grows

If you want to turn a stock into a token in 2026, there’s a very good chance Alpaca is involved. The US broker-dealer now clears or custodizes roughly 94% of all tokenized US equities, managing more than $1.5B in underlying stocks. Alpaca’s Instant Tokenization Network, which the company calls ITN, has quietly become the plumbing behind most institutional efforts to bring traditional equities onto blockchain rails. How the ITN actually works The core proposition is deceptively simple. Approved institutions hold shares in Alpaca brokerage accounts. When they want tokenized versions of those equities, ITN lets them mint tokens directly from those holdings, no additional stock settlement required. Traditional tokenization workflows force institutions to sell shares, move the proceeds into stablecoins or cash, and then use that to mint tokens. ITN skips the entire middle step through in-kind minting and redemption. That eliminates settlement delays, reduces friction, and critically, avoids taxable events that cash conversions can trigger. The system runs around the clock via a single API. That means institutions can create or destroy tokenized equity positions outside regular market ho...