Coinbase has announced a significant expansion of its offerings, allowing U.S. customers to trade traditional stocks as part of a comprehensive update to its platform. During a livestreamed event, the exchange revealed that it will venture beyond digital assets by enabling commission-free trading of thousands of equities and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) over the coming months. This new service aims to mirror offerings from competitors like Kraken and Robinhood, marking an important step toward Coinbase’s goal of enabling tokenized stock trading.
In an interview, Coinbase Head of Trading Scott Shapiro emphasized that the company plans to introduce a service aimed at tokenizing stocks, an initiative that depends heavily on forthcoming guidance from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Shapiro expressed optimism that access to tokenized stock trading could be achieved within the next quarter. He explained that the planned tokenization model will allow shares to be wrapped and unwrapped, facilitating movement across different blockchains while keeping the underlying stocks securely custodied.
Alongside traditional stock trading, Coinbase is set to offer access to Kalshi-powered prediction markets, seeking to integrate additional platforms in the future. U.S. customers will also have the opportunity to trade perpetual futures linked to digital assets, a feature that Coinbase initially introduced for Bitcoin and Ethereum earlier this year.
The firm’s mobile app has gained new capabilities, allowing users to trade assets supported on Solana-based decentralized exchanges directly. This development follows Coinbase’s previous rollout of access to tokens on its Ethereum layer-2 solution, Base. The company has noted that the Base app, rebranded from its self-custody wallet, is now available in 140 countries, furthering its appeal by blending social elements with familiar features attractive to crypto users.
Coinbase’s system update includes an AI-powered wealth management advisor designed to support customers in building portfolios and staying updated on news. Additionally, the exchange will introduce a service for companies to create custom stablecoins, enhancing brand visibility in transactions and linking with the x402 payment standard for potential AI agent transactions.
Market analysts project that Coinbase could generate approximately $230 million annually from its prediction markets. However, some caution is advised, as a significant number of users may need to liquidate cryptocurrency holdings to fund their wagers. As the company adapts to these new offerings, its shares reported a trading price of around $244, reflecting a nearly 2% year-to-date decline as Coinbase continues to lay the groundwork for its vision of future finance.
