coindesk.com
Binance’s renewed push into tokenized stocks gained regulatory backing Tuesday as the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) approved trading of Ondo Finance’s tokenized equities on the exchange’s regulated platform.
The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of ADGM cleared Ondo Global Markets’ tokenized stocks and ETFs to trade on Binance’s FSRA-regulated Multilateral Trading Facility, according to a press release shared with CoinDesk. The listing includes tokenized versions of Amazon, Alphabet, Apple, Circle, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, Tesla and the Invesco QQQ ETF. The products are available for non-U.S. users.
This is the first time the ADGM approved tokenized securities trading under the its regulatory framework, allowing UAE-based financial institutions, intermediaries, and counterparties deal in token versions of equities, Ondo said.
"Through offering Ondo tokenized stocks 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 equities, nearly five years after it shut down a similar service following scrutiny from U.K. and German regulators. The move comes after Binance listed Ondo's tokenized equities on its Alpha platform, dedicated to riskier, early-stage projects.
Tokenized stocks have drawn interest from crypto exchanges such as Kraken, brokerages like Robinhood and traditional market operators like Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange. The market’s total value has surpassed $1 billion, RWA.xyz data shows.
Supporters argue that putting equities on blockchain rails can widen investor access and allow the assets to move across trading and lending platforms more easily, linking stock markets with decentralized finance.
Ondo structures its products as equity-linked notes tied to the underlying shares. The firm says it has processed more than $11 billion in cumulative trading volume with over $600 million in total value locked since launching its offering less than six months ago.
Last year, Ondo secured approval for its base securities prospectus in the European Union, allowing public distribution across the European Union.