On Thursday (October 29), spot and derivatives exchange FTX confirmed that it plans to launch next week a way to trade the tokenized form of select U.S. stocks against cryptoassets (including Bitcoin and certain stablecoins).
Tokenization means that it will be possible to buy fractions of popular U.S. stoocks such as Amazon (AMZN) and Apple (AAPL) — just like you can with platforms such as Robinhood (in the U.S.) and Revolut (in Europe) — with one major difference: you will be able to find trade these against not fiat currencies, but cryptocurrencies.
FTX Co-Founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried told Coindesk:
These fractional stock products reflect the reality that today’s traders are industry and sector spanning and want trading opportunities that fully match their interests and mindset.
This new service will be offered with the support of two partner firms: Switzerland-based Digital Assets AG (DAAG), which helps its clients to implement tokenized financial products), and Germany-based cryptoasset management firm CM-Equity AG.
The FTX CEO told The Block:
CM-Equity custodies the stocks. Tokens on them are then traded on FTX and are redeemable for the underlying stocks… CM-Equity is a licensed entity and conducts compliance on all of the participating customers and trades.
It is worth noting that this service will not be available to traders in the U.S. and certain other restricted jurisdictions (such as Cuba).
According to data from CryptoCompare, FTX’s exchange token — FTX Token (FTT) — is currently trading at $3.945, up 3.82% in the past 24-hour period:
