Coinbase Tokenised Stocks Go Live via Abu Dhabi With Beneficial Ownership Structure

Coinbase has launched its first four tokenised equities, covering Apple, Alphabet, Meta, and Nvidia, issued out of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) and settling on the Base blockchain. The prospectuses were approved earlier in August, and the tokens began trading on 24 August through decentralised exchanges, principally Aerodrome, which is backed by Coinbase Ventures. The instruments are explicitly restricted from circulation in the United States and certain other jurisdictions.

The ownership architecture sets these tokens apart from competing products. Where structured note issuers such as Ondo Global Markets, Robinhood, and xStocks make token holders creditors of the issuer, Coinbase’s tokens confer a beneficial interest in the actual underlying shares, which the issuer holds on trust. That distinction matters materially for recovery scenarios and for how institutional allocators should classify the exposure.

Nevertheless, the trust framing carries caveats. The Ledger Insights analysis flags that the trust aspect could be challenged for all token holders and more acutely for unvested ones, so the beneficial ownership claim is not unconditional. On the circulation side, the tokens behave like stablecoins in DeFi settings, with compliance requirements confined to on- and off-ramps, though pseudonymous ownership carries its own documented downsides relative to going through full compliance channels.