Binance is making a new effort to blur the line between digital assets and traditional markets. In an announcement Monday, the company said its users will soon be able to trade more than 7,000 U.S. stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
He also detailed a plan to allow customers to convert shares they hold into tokenized crypto-like digital assets, part of what Binance describes as a broader effort to evolve into a “multi-asset financial super app.”
Binance aims for “frictionless” stock trading
Speaking to Fortune, Binance co-CEO Richard Teng explained why the move was particularly aimed at customers outside the United States. The executive said U.S. stocks already make up more than half of the global stock market, but for many foreign investors, buying them can come with high costs and friction.
Binance’s solution, according to Teng, is to offer commission-free stock trading for non-US users, as well as split purchases of stocks starting at $5, thereby reducing both the price barrier and the complexity of participation.
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Operationally, Binance said that new stock trading service will be set up with the support of a broker called Nest Trading. For custody and settlement functions, a New York-based company, Alpaca, is expected to handle custody and facilitate dividend payments and securities transactions.
Customers will be able to fund their stock purchases using stablecoins such as Circle’s USDC or Tether’s USDT, as well as a selection of other digital currenciesincluding Binance BNB.
Binance also introduced a more ambitious concept alongside the trading program: “bStocks”. The company’s position is that bStocks will allow users to tokenize the stocks they purchase.
Hyperliquid could feel the heat
According to Teng’s explanation, this would work by creating a synthetic, digital representation of certain stocks, obtained by converting the stocks into tokens on the Binance market. BNB Blockchain. The company says this feature should be available in the coming weeks.
While other major platforms have experimented with similar models over the past year, Binance says its approach could stand out in an important way.
Competitors such as Kraken and Robinhood have launched offerings in this space, but Binance says its bStocks plan is potentially different because it would allow customers to begin the tokenization process themselves rather than relying solely on the platform’s predefined conversion paths.
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The announcement of the exchange also sparked reactions. On X (formerly Twitter), analyst Zero Kyle argued that the development could be negative for the decentralized exchange (DEX) Hyperliquid (HYPE).
In Kyle’s view, while the increased availability may not necessarily resemble Hyperliquid’s trading platforms in the way some trading systems are structured, Binance is likely to intensify competition and could create a direct fight for market share.
The analyst added that the news may not be “bad for HYPE the token” specifically, but it could be “bad for the Hyperliquid exchange” due to increased competition.
Meanwhile, the exchange’s native token, BNB, was trading at $692 at the time of writing. This mirrors the broader crypto market’s retracement on Monday, with a 2.3% decline recorded so far.
Featured image created with OpenArt; chart from TradingView.com
