From Synthetic Exposure to Real Holdings: Gate’s US Stock Trading Is Now Live—Do Stock Tokens Still Have a Future?

In recent years, "tokenized stocks" have been seen as an ideal bridge connecting the crypto world with the traditional securities market. Investors could trade tokenized stocks of Apple, Tesla, and others on-chain, without going through traditional securities accounts, gaining 24/7 access to U.S. stock prices.

As global regulatory attitudes continue to tighten and crypto exchanges deepen their exploration of compliant product pathways, tokenized stocks are facing unprecedented challenges. Meanwhile, a more sustainable solution—crypto exchanges directly accessing real U.S. stock trading—is rapidly emerging.

On June 2026, Gate officially launched real stock trading services, becoming one of the few trading platforms to break down barriers between digital assets and traditional securities. Will tokenized stocks gradually exit the market?

The "Triple Dilemma" of Tokenized Stocks: Why Is the Outlook Uncertain?

The core logic of tokenized stocks is to present shares of listed companies as blockchain tokens, with investors holding tokens instead of directly owning the underlying stocks. This model has attracted many attempts over the past few years, but its challenges are gradually becoming apparent.

Regulatory Risks Continue to Rise

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has long been tightening its stance on tokenized securities. In July 2025, SEC Republican Commissioner Hester Peirce explicitly stated that regardless of whether blockchain technology is involved, the essence of tokenized securities remains unchanged and still falls under securities regulation. In August of the same year, the world's largest securities exchange organization—the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE)—formally issued a warning to the SEC, European securities regulators, and others, calling for strict regulation of tokenized stocks, noting that while these products mimic stocks, they do not provide the same shareholder rights and lack the transparency and regulatory protections of traditional exchanges.

This regulatory alert is not unfounded. Even within the industry, Coinbase officially sought SEC approval to launch tokenized stock services in June 2025, but according to procedures, Coinbase needs to obtain an "no objection letter" or exemption from the SEC, which in itself indicates that tokenized stock services are currently not permitted within the United States.

Substantive Lack of Investor Rights

The most controversial issue with tokenized stocks is that investors do not actually become registered shareholders of the underlying companies. The CEO of WFE explicitly pointed out that these products are marketed as stock tokens or stock equivalents, but in reality, they are not—investors cannot receive dividends, voting rights, or other core shareholder rights.

In other words, investors only gain "price tracking" functionality, not true equity rights. While this may not be a core concern during a bull market, the costs of lacking rights are often magnified during downturns or major corporate governance events.

Increasing Compliance Barriers

As global regulatory frameworks become more refined, compliance costs are rising. In October 2025, an industry research report indicated that the tokenized stock market is almost entirely dominated by two institutions—Backed and Ondo Global Markets—with high market concentration, and most platforms still operate within gray areas of compliance.

Against this backdrop, more platforms are re-evaluating the sustainability of tokenized stocks. The question may no longer be "How far can tokenized stocks go?" but rather "What do investors truly need?"

Gate Offers a New Answer: Real U.S. Stock Trading Officially Launches

On June 1, 2026, Gate officially launched real stock trading services, and on June 12, it went live on the web, achieving full coverage across both app and web platforms. The core features and highlights of Gate's stock trading include:

Coverage Scope: Gate's U.S. stock trading supports major American securities markets including NYSE, NASDAQ, NYSE Arca, NYSE American, and BATS, covering over 10,000 stocks and ETFs. In addition to U.S. stocks, Gate has added Hong Kong stock trading, supporting over 1,000 Hong Kong-listed stocks. On June 9, Gate further launched IPO Access, allowing users to submit subscription applications for companies like SpaceX before their official listing, with allocations directly credited to their Gate stock accounts for real stock trading.

USDT Settlement: Users can directly participate in stock and ETF trading using USDT, eliminating cumbersome fiat currency exchange processes and enabling unified management of crypto assets and traditional securities within the same account system.

Fractional Shares Trading: The platform supports minimum investments starting from 0.01 shares, allowing users to participate in high-priced tech stocks like Nvidia, Tesla, and Apple with as little as $1.

Extended Trading Hours: The platform has launched pre-market and after-hours trading, extending trading hours to 16×5, enabling users to cover more U.S. stock trading windows.

Compliance Infrastructure: Strategic Partnership with Alpaca

Gate's real stock trading is not a "synthetic product" or "derivative," but is achieved through compliant brokerage channels, enabling genuine U.S. stock investment.

On June 3, Gate announced a comprehensive clearing agreement with Alpaca, a SEC-registered clearing broker. Through this compliant infrastructure, Gate can provide users with a complete end-to-end U.S. stock service chain, including trade execution, clearing and settlement, custody, dividend distribution, and corporate actions.

This model differs structurally from tokenized stocks:

• Asset Ownership: Stocks are held in custody by a regulated broker partner, with user holdings being real, transferable, and future-movable to other brokers, rather than only circulating within a closed platform system.
• Shareholder Rights: Users can normally receive dividends and other rights, with the platform automatically crediting dividends to accounts, eliminating the need for investors to handle complex corporate actions themselves.
• Robust Compliance Foundation: Gate Group holds 12 financial licenses across multiple jurisdictions, including U.S. MSB, EU MiCA, Dubai VARA, and others, with operational processes aligned with international AML and KYC standards.

The Future of Tokenized Stocks: Will They Be Replaced or Coexist?

The launch of real U.S. stock trading does not mean that tokenized stocks will immediately "disappear," but it does raise a thought-provoking question: When users can directly hold real equity in a compliant, secure, and low-cost environment, how much space is left for tokenized stocks?

For international users, opening a traditional U.S. stock account often involves cumbersome procedures, high capital requirements, and foreign exchange costs. Gate's real stock trading service allows users to participate directly in the U.S. stock market with USDT, without needing an overseas broker account, offering a unique convenience advantage.

Compared to merely providing "price tracking" for stocks, real U.S. stock trading has clear advantages in asset rights, regulatory protection, and cross-platform liquidity. It is foreseeable that tokenized stocks will gradually shift toward niche markets or regions where compliant pathways are less clear, while mainstream crypto trading platforms integrating with compliant U.S. stock infrastructure will become a key industry development direction.

Summary

The regulatory pressure and rights deficiencies faced by tokenized stocks make their long-term prospects uncertain. Since 2025, ongoing SEC scrutiny, joint warnings from global exchange alliances, and industry re-evaluation of compliant products all point in the same direction: the integration of cryptocurrencies and traditional securities requires more sustainable solutions.

Gate took the lead in June 2026. With coverage of over 10,000 U.S. stocks and ETFs, USDT settlement convenience, compliant infrastructure via Alpaca, and a full product chain including IPO access, Gate is transforming the "fusion of digital assets and traditional finance" from a vision into reality.

For investors, the real choice may not be "tokenized or real stocks," but rather "on what platform, in what way, can they participate in the global capital markets safely and efficiently."