Coins, stocks, and chains: a comprehensive insight into the ultimate ambition behind Coinbase's "empire" expansion
Currency, stocks, payments, contracts, comprehensive layout, and completing the closed loop on its own public chain Base. Coinbase's ambitions are becoming fully apparent.Author: Fairy, ChainCatcher
Editor: TB, ChainCatcher
Coinbase has been quite active recently.
On one hand, it is applying to the U.S. SEC to launch stock tokenization trading; on the other hand, it has partnered with Shopify to allow consumers in 34 countries to shop using USDC on the Base chain; at the same time, it supports all Base ecosystem assets through DEX.
With a comprehensive layout in coins, stocks, payments, and contracts, Coinbase is completing a closed loop on its own public chain, Base. Coinbase's ambitions are becoming fully apparent.
"On-chain Broker": Coinbase's Super Entry Dream
According to Reuters, Coinbase is seeking approval from the U.S. SEC to provide users with stock tokenization trading services. Once approved, users will be able to trade tokenized assets representing U.S. stocks through blockchain technology. Coinbase will directly compete with traditional retail brokers like Robinhood and Charles Schwab, while also aiming to open up a new on-chain securities business landscape.
Behind this move is a rapidly rising market: since the beginning of this year, the overall market value in the RWA sector has grown from $15.7 billion in January to $23.9 billion currently, with an increase of over 50% in just a few months.
Image: rwa.xyz
Coinbase is not the only player capitalizing on this trend. Last month, its main competitor Kraken announced that it would launch a U.S. stock token product called "xStocks" outside the U.S., covering over 50 stocks and ETFs, including Apple, Tesla, and Nvidia. This product is deployed on the Solana blockchain and supports 24/7 trading.
However, for Coinbase to implement this model in the U.S., it still needs to overcome high regulatory hurdles: it must obtain a "no-action letter" or exemption from the SEC. According to current regulations, all institutions providing securities trading services must hold a broker-dealer license. Fortunately, Coinbase acquired Keystone Capital, which holds that license, back in 2018. Although this subsidiary has not been actively used, theoretically, Coinbase is qualified to provide similar services.
Additionally, Coinbase's Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal has clearly stated that the stock tokenization business is currently a "highly prioritized" strategic direction for the company. If this model is successfully implemented, Coinbase is expected to disrupt the traditional brokerage landscape and create a significant impact on Wall Street.
Coinbase's Strategic Pivot: Base
Coinbase is fully promoting the Base chain, attempting to establish it as the underlying infrastructure and strategic hub for on-chain financial closed loops.
Recently, Base leader Jesse stated that Coinbase has launched all Base ecosystem assets through the DEX mechanism, allowing users to trade seamlessly using funds from their CEX accounts. This means that once projects on Base are issued, they can immediately reach all users across the Coinbase platform. This brings significant benefits in terms of liquidity and market attention to Base.
In real payment scenarios, Coinbase is also pushing Base to break out of its niche. On June 13, e-commerce platform Shopify announced a partnership with Coinbase and Stripe, allowing merchants to accept USDC as a payment method. Consumers can now check out using USDC on the Base chain in 34 countries.
Traditional financial giants have also included Base in their on-chain experiments. Today, JPMorgan announced that it will pilot the issuance of the JPMD token on Base, representing dollar deposits. JPMD is scalable and may support interest accrual and deposit insurance in the future, seen as a compliant alternative to stablecoins. This indicates that large institutions are actively exploring compliant issuance, circulation, and settlement paths for on-chain assets, and Base may become an important landing point for banks, brokerages, and payment platforms to "go on-chain."
From a strategic perspective, Base is a key bridge for Coinbase to access the on-chain primary market, on-chain brokerage, on-chain payments, and even "on-chain banking." Base supports ecosystem activity, while Coinbase serves as the entry and asset recovery point through CEX.
From stock tokenization to on-chain payments and stablecoins, and to large institutional asset issuance experiments, Coinbase is attempting to build a compliant "on-chain financial empire" using three powerful tools: coins, stocks, and chains. However, the ever-changing regulatory landscape, fierce competition, and the deep integration of technology and compliance are all unavoidable tests for the expansion of this "empire."
