Tokenized stocks trading on Base reached $100 million in daily decentralized exchange volume, a level the network had not seen for 26 days. The product category did not exist on the chain five weeks earlier, making the increase a rapid expansion in activity.

Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 network launched tokenized versions of major US stocks on August 24, 2026. Within a month, cumulative trading volume for the products surpassed $228 million.

The stocks being traded

The tokenized stocks available on Base include Nvidia (NVDAc), Apple (AAPLc), Alphabet (GOOGLc), and Meta (METAc). Each token follows the B20 standard and is backed 1:1 by actual shares held in custody by Alpaca, a brokerage infrastructure provider.

Most of the trading has taken place on a single venue. Aerodrome, the dominant decentralized exchange on Base, has handled more than 77% of all tokenized stock volume since the launch. During the first week alone, cumulative volume across the four tokens reached approximately $94.6 million, before accelerating further.

Why tokenized stocks are drawing activity

Traditional stock markets operate for roughly 6.5 hours a day, five days a week. Tokenized versions can trade around the clock, seven days a week. On Base, traders can purchase fractional amounts of NVDAc and use the tokens as collateral in decentralized finance protocols.

A tokenized stock held in a wallet can also be lent, used to support borrowing, or paired in a liquidity pool to generate trading fees. These features give the assets utility beyond simply representing exposure to an individual company’s shares.

Aerodrome’s market share and regulatory considerations

Aerodrome’s share of more than 77% of tokenized stock volume is a notable data point for the Base ecosystem. For Aerodrome liquidity providers, pools containing tokenized stocks offer a new source of fee revenue with a risk profile that differs from standard crypto pairs. The underlying assets are linked to traditional equity markets rather than to ETH or Bitcoin.

The 1:1 backing model, with Alpaca serving as custodian, creates a direct connection between each onchain token and an actual share. Whether that structure will satisfy the SEC over the long term remains an open question.

Settlement also differs between the two systems: Base provides T+0 settlement, while settlement through the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) is T+1. That difference may be operationally significant for firms managing large portfolios.

The current selection consists of four tokenized stocks and is deliberately narrow, focusing on mega-cap companies. One month of data does not establish a trend, but cumulative volume of $228 million and a daily peak of $100 million indicate that onchain equities have attracted activity beyond a novelty. Further assessment will depend on whether activity persists beyond the initial launch period and whether trading expands beyond the current four stocks and dominant venue.