Binance is once again trying to blur the line between digital assets and customary markets. In a statement on Monday, the company said its users will soon be able to trade more than 7,000 U.S. stocks and ETFs.
He also detailed a plan to allow customers to convert their stock holdings into cryptocurrency-style tokenized digital assets, as part of what Binance describes as a broader effort to evolve into a “multi-asset financial super-app.”
Binance focuses on frictionless stock trading.
In an interview with Fortune, Binance co-founder Richard Teng emphasized why this move is specifically aimed at customers outside the United States. Executive Director he said U.S. stocks already make up well over half of the global stock market, but for many foreign investors, buying them can involve high costs and friction.
Binance’s solution, according to Teng, is to offer commission-free stock trading to users outside the U.S., with fractional share purchases starting at $5, lowering both the price barrier and the complexity of participation.
Operationally, Binance said that up-to-date stock trading service will be created with the support of a broker-dealer called Nest Trading. In terms of fiduciary and settlement functions, New York-based Alpaca is expected to handle custody and facilitate dividend payments and corporate activities.
Customers will be able to finance stock purchases using stablecoins such as the USDC Circle stablecoin or USDT Tether, as well as select other digital currenciesincluding BNB Binance.
Binance has also introduced a more ambitious concept with its trading program: “bStocks”. The company’s position is that bStocks will enable users to tokenize the shares they buy.
Hyperliquid may feel toasty
According to Teng’s explanation, this would work by creating a synthetic, digital token representation of certain stocks – achieved by converting stocks into tokens on the Binance platform Blockchain BNB. The company says this functionality is expected to be available in the coming weeks.
While other major platforms have experimented with similar models over the past year, Binance says their approach may stand out in one essential respect.
Competitors such as Kraken and Robinhood have introduced offerings in this space, but Binance says its bStocks plan is potentially different because it would allow customers to start the tokenization process themselves, rather than relying solely on the platform’s pre-established conversion paths.
The stock exchange’s announcement also sparked reactions. On X (formerly Twitter) analyst Zero Kyle he argued that developments may be unfavorable for the decentralized exchange (DEX) Hyperliquid (HYPE).
Kyle was of the opinion that while the increased availability will not necessarily resemble Hyperliquid’s trading systems in terms of the “24/7” structure of some trading systems, Binance will likely intensify competition and could spark an outright fight for market share.
The analyst added that the news may not be “bad for the HYPE token specifically,” but could be “bad for the Hyperliquid exchange” due to increased competition.
Meanwhile, at the time of writing, the exchange’s native token, BNB, was trading at $692. This reflects Monday’s pullback in the broader cryptocurrency market, with a decline of 2.3% so far.
Featured image created with OpenArt; chart from TradingView.com
