Binance reviews relaunching tokenized equities products for the first time in five years

Crypto exchange Binance is considering re-entering the tokenized equities market, nearly five years after suspending the service in 2021 due to regulatory issues.

According to Cointelegraph on the 23rd (local time), Binance said it is reviewing the possibility of reintroducing tokenized equities products. A Binance spokesperson said, "Reviewing the possibility of offering tokenized equities is a natural next step to connect traditional finance and crypto," adding, "We are focused on expanding user choice while maintaining high regulatory standards."

If Binance brings back tokenized equities, it would mark its biggest business shift since it halted the service in July 2021. At the time, Binance officially announced it would "end support for stock tokens." The company later began supporting tokenized real-world assets (RWA) and recently launched regulated traditional finance derivatives perpetual contracts settled in stablecoins.

Binance introduced tokenized shares of tech and crypto-related companies starting with Tesla in April 2021, followed by Coinbase, MicroStrategy, Apple, Microsoft and others. The products later came under regulatory scrutiny by Germany’s financial regulator, and the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ordered Binance in June that year to cease regulated business activities.

In December last year, speculation also emerged that Binance’s changes to its application programming interface (API) were made with an eye toward adding stock trading features. Binance, however, did not officially confirm any such plans at the time. US crypto exchange Coinbase is also said to be reviewing the introduction of tokenized equities.

Meanwhile, in the US, discussions are also under way to establish a regulatory framework for tokenized equities. The Senate Agriculture Committee and the Senate Banking Committee are reviewing a digital asset market structure bill, but the Banking Committee’s vote has been postponed indefinitely after Coinbase withdrew its support. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has said that if the bill passes in its current form, it "could effectively result in a ban on tokenized equities."