Coinbase aims to replicate USDC success with tokenized stocks

Coinbase took a stablecoin that started as a side project, grew it into the second-largest dollar token in crypto, and turned USDC into the default currency of decentralized finance. Now the company wants to run the same play with stocks. The exchange launched tokenized versions of US equities on its Base layer-2 network starting August 24, beginning with four tech giants: Nvidia, Apple, Meta, and Alphabet. Within the first month, cumulative decentralized exchange volume for those tokens surpassed $228 million, with daily volumes hitting roughly $100 million shortly after launch. How the tokens actually work Each tokenized stock, denoted with a “c” suffix like NVDAc or AAPLc, represents a 1:1 claim on an actual share of the underlying company. They are real equity positions, held in regulated custody by Alpaca under oversight from the Abu Dhabi Global Market. CEO Brian Armstrong has described the approach as “true ownership,” where token holders possess actual equity in the companies represented on the blockchain. That framing is deliberate. Earlier attempts at tokenized stocks, from platforms like FTX and Binance, relied on synthetic structures that gave users price exposure witho...