Coinbase is considering making tokenized shares of its stock, COIN, available to United States users of Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 network, Jesse Pollak, a Base developer, said in a post on the X platform.
Tokenized COIN shares are already available to non-US users through protocols such as Backed, a tokenized real-world assets (RWA) platform, Pollak said in a Jan. 3 X post.
COIN on Base is “something we are looking into in the new year,” Pollack said, adding that eventually “every asset in the world will be on Base.”
Pollak said that Coinbase has “no concrete plans right now” and is in “an exploratory phase” as the exchange works to understand how to navigate US regulations.
“[W]e need regulatory clarity and improvements that embrace onchain as an open platform to unlock this for everyone,” Pollack added.
Source: Jesse Pollack
Related: Tokenization can transform US markets if Trump clears the way
Burgeoning market
Collectively, tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) — including tokenized securities — represent a $30 trillion market opportunity globally, Colin Butler, Polygon’s global head of institutional capital, told Cointelegraph in an August interview.
In November, US crypto stocks such as COIN saw massive gains after Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election, as many say his win will benefit the industry, Cointelegraph Research said.
On Nov. 11, COIN surged more than 20%, pushing the stock past $300 for the first time since 2021.
“We see Coinbase as a beneficiary of the election results as the firm has been struggling with regulatory pressure from the SEC, with the firm actively fighting the agency in court,” Michale Miller, an equities researcher at Morningstar Inc., said in a November research note.
“With the incoming Donald Trump administration expected to be more favorable to the cryptocurrency industry, the firm’s staking business will face less regulatory pressure,” Miller said.
Regulatory clarity needed
Analysts say clearer US rules are crucial for crypto adoption, particularly for tokenized securities, such as COIN.
Under President Joe Biden, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought more than 100 enforcement actions against cryptocurrency companies for purported violations of securities laws.
“The US has at least begun to try moving away from regulation by enforcement toward a broader framework passed by Congress,” investment bank Citi said in a December research note shared with Cointelegraph.
However, legislation in the United States is “lagging other major jurisdictions,” Citi said.
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