Coinbase signaled on Wednesday that its platform is expanding beyond digital assets, with U.S. customers gaining access to traditional stock trading as part of a sweeping update.
In a livestreamed event, the exchange detailed changes to over a dozen new and existing products, ranging from prediction markets to decentralized finance on Solana, as well as an end-to-end platform for creating digital representations of real-world assets.
As a commission-free brokerage, Coinbase said it will support thousands of equities and exchange-traded funds in the coming months, which trade five days a week. The company also plans to introduce perpetual futures tied to stocks outside the U.S. next year.
The offering mirrors services offered by competitors like Kraken and Robinhood, which Coinbase described as an “important milestone toward enabling tokenized stocks.” Coinbase also plans to debut a service allowing institutions to tokenize assets.
In an interview with Decrypt, Coinbase Head of Trading Scott Shapiro said the company hopes to offer access to tokenized stock trading in the coming quarter. He noted that Coinbase’s stock offering, from the get-go, is compatible with Circle’s USDC stablecoin.
“There’s still a lot of work to do,” he said, explaining that the tokenization timeline is largely dependent on guidance being crafted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “The government shutdown obviously didn't help.”
Shapiro said that Coinbase’s model for tokenization will allow market participants to “wrap and unwrap” traditional shares, which can move across various blockchains and applications while “the underlying stock is still custodied in a safe place.”
Following Robinhood’s support of Kalshi-powered prediction markets this summer, Coinbase indicated that its entry into space will also tap the Polymarket competitor. The company noted that it plans to integrate additional prediction market platforms in the future.
The company said that it will also allow U.S. customers to trade perpetual futures, which allow traders to indefinitely hold leveraged positions tied to digital assets. In July, Coinbase began offering perpetual-style futures for Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The company said that customers can now trade any asset that’s supported on a Solana-based decentralized exchange directly within Coinbase’s mobile app. The feature was teased in August, when Coinbase first offered access to tokens on its Ethereum layer-2 network, Base.
“With millions of assets on Base and Solana now available by default in the main Coinbase app, we'll continue expanding to further networks over time,” a company blog post stated.
Coinbase highlighted that its Base app, a rebrand of the company’s self-custody wallet, has become available in 140 countries. The app allows users to earn from posts and play games, blending social elements with features that crypto users have grown accustomed to.
The company said its “system update” also entails an AI-powered advisor for wealth management that can help customers build portfolios or digest news.
Finally, the exchange said that it would offer a service allowing companies to create custom stablecoins, allowing them to put their “brand front-and-center in every transaction.” That dovetails with x402, an internet standard stablecoin payments that can be used to power AI agent payments, the exchange added.
Analysts at investment bank Compass Point estimated this week that Coinbase could take in $230 million annually from prediction markets. However, analysts at investment bank Mizuho also warned that a significant portion of users are likely to sell crypto to fund wagers.
Coinbase shares changed hands around $244 on Wednesday, according to Yahoo Finance. The company’s stock price has declined around nearly 2% year-to-date, as it continues to lay the groundwork for its vision for the future of finance.
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