Binance’s new push into tokenized stocks gained regulatory support on Tuesday as the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) approved trading of Ondo Finance’s tokenized stocks on the exchange’s regulated platform.
The ADGM Financial Services Regulatory Authority has authorized Ondo Global Markets’ tokenized stocks and ETFs to be traded on Binance’s FSRA-regulated multilateral trading facility, according to a press release shared with CoinDesk. The list includes tokenized versions of Amazon, Alphabet, Apple, Circle, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, Tesla and the Invesco QQQ ETF. Products are available to non-US users.
This is the first time that the ADGM has approved the trading of tokenized securities within its regulatory framework, allowing UAE-based financial institutions, intermediaries and counterparties to trade tokenized versions of shares, Ondo said.
“By offering tokenized Ondo shares for trading on Binance, we are expanding access to hundreds of millions of investors,” Ian de Bode, president of Ondo Finance, said in a statement.
The approval gives Binance a regulated venue to trade tokenized stocks, nearly five years after it shut down a similar service following scrutiny from British and German regulators. The move comes after Binance listed Ondo’s tokenized shares on its Alpha platform, dedicated to riskier, early-stage projects.
Tokenized stocks have attracted interest from crypto exchanges such as Kraken, brokerages like Robinhood, and traditional market operators like Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange. The total market value has exceeded $1 billion, according to data from RWA.xyz.
Proponents argue that putting stocks on the blockchain rails can expand investor access and allow assets to flow more easily between trading and lending platforms, thereby linking stock markets to decentralized finance.
Ondo structures its products as securities linked to the underlying stocks. The company claims to have processed more than $11 billion in cumulative transaction volume, with a total value locked of more than $600 million since launching its offering less than six months ago.
Last year, Ondo obtained approval of its base prospectus for securities in the European Union, allowing public distribution throughout the European Union.
