The crypto giant is seeking regulatory clearance to offer tokenized equities, a blockchain-based twist on stock trading that could disrupt legacy brokerages and test the SEC’s evolving stance under President Donald Trump’s pro-crypto regime.
After dodging a high-stakes lawsuit under former President Joe Biden’s SEC, Coinbase is now pushing the envelope. In an interview with Reuters, Coinbase’s chief legal officer Paul Grewal said the crypto exchange is seeking formal regulatory approval to offer tokenized equities.
While Grewal stopped short of confirming whether Coinbase has submitted a formal request, he said the initiative is a “huge priority” and contingent on a no-action letter or similar exemptive relief from the SEC. If approved, the move would pit Coinbase directly against entrenched retail brokerages like Robinhood and Charles Schwab, marking its boldest incursion yet into mainstream finance.
The promise and pitfall of tokenized stocks
At stake is more than just a new product line. Coinbase’s push into tokenized equities would mark the first serious attempt to bring Wall Street onto the blockchain under the Trump-era SEC, which has adopted a noticeably softer stance toward crypto firms.
For years, crypto advocates have argued that blockchain could make traditional finance faster, cheaper, and more transparent. Tokenized equities put that theory to the test. Unlike conventional stock trading, where shares take days to settle, brokers take a cut, and markets shut down at 4 PM New York time, blockchain-based equities promise near-instant settlement, lower fees, and 24/7 trading.
Coinbase’s pitch to the SEC hinges on that premise: bring the old financial world onto the rails of the new. But doing so requires regulatory blessing in the form of a no-action letter, essentially a hall pass from the SEC, assuring that the agency won’t pursue enforcement, even if existing laws remain murky.
That hall pass is everything. Without it, Coinbase risks repeating history. The SEC has spent years treating crypto as a rogue asset class. And even under Trump’s friendlier regime, the agency may hesitate to greenlight a product that blurs the line between stocks and digital assets.
Still, the landscape is shifting. The SEC under Trump has scrapped lawsuits against Binance, Kraken, and others, and now appears more open to rewriting the rulebook. That political shift has emboldened firms like Coinbase to revive long-shelved ambitions.
And while rivals such as Kraken are already offering tokenized stocks outside U.S. borders, Coinbase wants to do it in America, transparently and above board.
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