Coinbase Launches Tokenized Stocks On Base

Coinbase moved four US equities onchain on August 25, 2026, offering non-US investors direct exposure to Apple, Nvidia, Meta, and Alphabet shares via self-custody wallets on the Base blockchain. The tokenized stocks (NVDAc, AAPLc, METAc, GOOGLc) trade 24/7 and integrate with decentralized finance protocols for lending, derivatives, and liquidity provision.

The launch marks Coinbase's entry into a tokenized equities market that held $2.48 billion as of late August, up 5.18% over 30 days, according to The Defiant. Ondo Finance leads the sector with $872.7 million across 406 assets, followed by Backed's xStocks at $588 million and Binance's bStocks at $552.7 million. Tokenized equities have 2.12 million holders and $27.28 billion in monthly transfer volume.

At launch, the four Coinbase tokens held about $4.55 million in combined onchain value, per The Defiant, with roughly $3.06 million in decentralized exchange liquidity and $10.8 million in 24-hour volume. NVDAc, the largest, traded at $208.51 against Nvidia's $208.48 close, while AAPLc settled at $311.23 versus Apple's $310.34 close and METAc at $558.50 against Meta's $559.02 close. About 50 applications support the tokens at launch, including Aave and Morpho for lending, Aerodrome for spot trading, 0x and 1inch for routing, and Wasabi for perpetuals and options.

Coinbase Onchain SPV Ltd, incorporated in Abu Dhabi Global Market on June 17, 2026 as a subsidiary of Onchain Marketplace Holdings Limited (itself owned by Coinbase Global), issues the tokens. Alpaca Securities LLC, an SEC-registered broker-dealer, buys and custodies the underlying shares in segregated accounts. The SPV holds shares as bare trustee for token holders under a deed of trust. Creation costs 1 basis point; redemption costs 5 basis points. Dividends carry a 5% distribution fee on gross value before the 30% US withholding rate applied to non-US persons.

Chainlink serves as the official price oracle. The feeds publish total return values, folding in dividends and splits, and run 24/5 while the tokens trade 24/7, creating a gap. Base documentation instructs integrators to check the updatedAt field and apply staleness bounds before relying on prices, and to never settle or liquidate against a frozen feed. The tokens use an onchain multiplier mechanism: one B20 token does not permanently equal one share. Instead, the multiplier scales each token's claim as dividends reinvest and splits apply, so raw balances remain fixed while the underlying entitlement moves.

Token holders have no direct voting rights in underlying companies. Only Vested Holders, a subset registered in the legal register after KYC and AML clearance, can receive voting instructions from the SPV. Unvested holders cannot vote and cannot redeem, and vesting conditions can change after purchase. Ondo Finance took a different approach in April, wiring shareholder voting into more than 250 tokenized stocks through Broadridge. Tokens are offered under Regulation S, unavailable to US persons, and the tokenization entity can freeze or blacklist wallets that end up in prohibited jurisdictions. Coinbase's US customers cannot buy the tokenized stocks. The exchange asked the SEC for relief to offer tokenized equities domestically in June 2025, but that request remains pending.

Minting and redemption are limited to KYC-onboarded Authorized Participants; secondary trading is permissionless. B20 contracts are precompiles on Base, meaning every integrator shares one implementation. The contracts were audited by Base and Spearbit with Cantina and HackerOne bug bounty coverage. Coinbase first described the 1:1 structure in June 2026 and won its FSRA permission for the tokenization hub earlier in August 2026. The exchange says more tokenized stocks are coming.

Antonio Garcia-Martinez, Head of Growth at Base, said: "Base has built one of the most vibrant DeFi ecosystems out there, and Chainlink's oracle infra unlocks new utility for tokenized assets."

Coinbase shares closed Monday at $179.48, down 3.76%, within a 52-week range of $139.11 to $402.16.