Bitget Debuts In-House Platform to Tokenize Stocks and ETFs

RWAs as infrastructure

Bitget, which describes itself as a universal exchange offering a range of digital asset products, says it accounts for nearly 90% of global trading volume in tokenized stocks and ETFs. With Reality, it can now also issue rTokens, the onchain versions of equities and ETFs, the firm said in a release shared with Sandmark.

"Stablecoins, faster blockchain settlement, and growing interest from major exchanges are pushing RWAs from experiment to market infrastructure. Reality is Bitget’s step toward making that future accessible to global users," said Gracy Chen, Bitget’s CEO. 

Rivalling xStocks

The platform’s initial focus will be on select US stocks and ETFs with other assets planned in the future. Each rToken is backed 1:1 by underlying shares held in a US broker-dealer registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and protected by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). 

Bitget’s move pits it most directly against competitor xStocks, the Kraken-owned blockchain-based infrastructure that also offers 1:1 physically backed tokenized equity assets. The retail ecosystem lets users buy fractional, tokenized shares of blue chip stocks like Apple, Tesla and Nvidia.

On Ondo's turf

Within the tokenized equities space, Ondo Finance, the New York-based RWA tokenization platform behind the Ondo (ONDO) token, is one of the dominant infrastructure operators and asset issuers, making headlines recently after surpassing $1bn in total value locked (TVL) for tokenized stocks and ETFs. 

Ondo Finance controls roughly 58% of the global tokenized stock-issuing market, according to data from RWA.xyz. It is not a retail crypto exchange; instead, it partners with exchanges like Bitget for distribution.

xStocks, created by the Swiss firm Backed Finance, also uses the crypto exchange Bybit as a distributor. Its tokens are backed by stock certificates held in Swiss or EU custody. 

Direct to Nasdaq

One difference is that Reality connects directly to the live liquidity pools of Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange, which Bitget says should support tighter pricing for rTokens. xStocks uses a decentralized network of independent third-party market makers.

Bitget, which was founded in 2018, is promoting its vision of becoming a universal exchange that would combine crypto, onchain markets and traditional assets within a single platform. Chen, a Chinese-born tech entrepreneur, has set out a vision in which 10% of all financial assets would be in token form by 2030.

The firm counts around 125mn users and offers trading in 2mn crypto tokens, more than 100 tokenized stocks, ETFs, commodities, foreign exchange products and precious metals such as gold.