On-chain US Stock Trading: New Opportunities or New Traps?

Recently, multiple cryptocurrency exchanges have successively launched tokenized trading products for US stocks, attracting widespread attention within the industry. These products allow users to directly buy and sell US stock assets on the blockchain by holding stablecoins, without the need to open traditional brokerage accounts.

Although the tokenization of US stocks is not a new concept, the actual stock custody model adopted this time is different from the previous synthetic asset models. In the new model, users are buying and selling tokenized versions of real US stocks, with funds ultimately flowing into the US stock market. This model lowers the threshold for global users to participate in US stock investment, allowing anyone holding cryptocurrency to conveniently invest in US stocks.

From a macro perspective, this model may attract more global capital flows into the U.S. capital markets. For users lacking access to U.S. stock investment channels, particularly retail investors in developing countries, the tokenization of U.S. stocks undoubtedly offers an unprecedented low-threshold investment avenue.

However, the current tokenized products in the US stock market still have some limitations. For example, most products only support long trades, lacking advanced features such as short selling and leverage. For cryptocurrency users who already have traditional US stock accounts, the appeal of these products may be limited.

Nevertheless, tokenization of US stocks may bring new opportunities to the decentralized finance ( DeFi ) ecosystem. These tokens could become a new type of high-quality asset in DeFi protocols, used for lending, derivatives, and various other purposes, thereby enriching the diversity of on-chain financial products.

Overall, the tokenization of US stocks has brought new investment opportunities while also raising some concerns. It may facilitate the flow of global capital into the US market, while also providing a new direction for the development of the DeFi ecosystem. In the future, those who can develop more comprehensive and competitive products in this field may stand out in a new wave of financial innovation.