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December 8, 2020 - Bermuda-based Crypto Exchange Bittrex Global has announced that it will be listing tokenized stocks on its digital asset exchange in cooperation with Swiss-based DigitalAssetsAG. This product will allow traders and investors direct access to listed companies without having to use an external broker or pay additional fees. Shares can be purchased using either US dollars (USD), Tether (USDT) or Bitcoin (BTC), twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
Tokenized shares can be purchased by Bittrex customers in fractions with the underlying risk of the tokens being deroived form the tokenized company. Bittrex Global plans to increase the range of tokenized assets on offer by giving its customers exposure to ETFs, indices, and additional asset classes.
“The traditional stock exchanges of the world’s financial capitals have for centuries set the terms for engagement and trading. Clearing systems are inefficient and complex and trading small volumes can be expensive and take days, all of which is totally unnecessary given the technological advances that have been made in the last decade,” said Bittrex Global’s CEO Tom Albright. “Blockchain technology has the potential to radically broaden access to financial services, and Bittrex Global is very proud to provide people with a portal to build their capital and private wealth in a way that was unimaginable a decade ago.”
The following tokenized stocks are available to trade via Bittrex Global:
- Tesla (TSLA)
- SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY)
- Alibaba (BABA)
- Beyond Meat Inc (BYND)
- Pfizer (PFE)
- Apple (AAPL)
- BioNTech (BNTX)
- Facebook (FB)
- Google (GOOGL)
- Netflix (NFLX)
- Amazon (AMZN)
- Bilibili (BILI)
These tokenized stocks are available even in countries where accessing US stocks through traditional financial instruments is not possible. Tokenized stocks can be traded alongside over 250 digital assets listed on the Bittrex Global exchange.
The news from Bittrex makes it the second crypto exchange to launch 24/7 tokenized stock trading. In late October, cryptocurrency derivatives exchange FTX announced a Bitcoin pairs' launch for Wall Street stocks. Amongst them were names like Tesla, Apple, Facebook, Amazon. The exchange announced it would partner with the German financial firm CM Equity AG and Swiss-based Digital Assets AG on the project.
Away from the investing environment, there are other signs of a growing shift towards adoption of digital assets. Just recently, the Chinese e-commerce retail giant JD.com announced its plans to allow purchases of some of their products with digital yuan, China’s long-planned upcoming national cryptocurrency backed by its central bank (CDBC). The project is set to launch by JD Digits – the company's fintech affiliate. Its primary focus will be to familiarise buyers with the upcoming CBDC and its eventual everyday usage.
