Spotlight on Key Projects: The Ecosystem from Issuance to Trading

From an architectural perspective, a fully functional tokenized stock ecosystem requires at least three layers: the infrastructure layer (public chains, oracles, and settlement systems), the issuance layer (various issuers), and the trading layer (CEXs/DEXs, lending, and other derivative trading platforms). The absence of any layer would make it difficult to achieve secure issuance, efficient pricing, and high-speed trading.

Within this framework, we can see major market players focusing on different segments. Given that infrastructure (e.g., public chains, oracles, and settlement networks) is relatively mature, the main battleground for tokenized stocks lies in issuance and trading. This article will highlight representative projects that directly impact user experience and market liquidity.

Ondo Finance: The RWA Leader’s Expansion into Stocks
As a leading project in the RWA tokenization space, Ondo Finance initially positioned itself as a platform for tokenizing bonds and Treasury securities. As of this writing, its two flagship products, USDY and OUSG (backed by U.S. Treasuries), still hold a top-ten position in the RWA tokenization market by volume.

However, since last year, Ondo Finance has expanded into the stock market by partnering with regulated custodians and clearing institutions like Anchorage Digital to custody real U.S. stocks and issue equivalent tokenized assets on-chain. This model not only provides institutional investors with compliance assurance but also creates cross-asset liquidity pools on-chain, enabling tokenized stocks to be traded alongside stablecoins and RWA bonds.

Last month, Ondo Finance and Pantera Capital announced plans to launch a $250 million fund to support RWA projects. Ondo’s Chief Strategy Officer, Ian De Bode, stated that the capital would be used to acquire equity and tokens from emerging projects.

Injective: A Public Chain Tailored for Financial RWAs
Injective has always positioned itself as "financial infrastructure" and is one of the public chains optimized for high-performance financial applications. Its proprietary on-chain matching and derivatives trading modules are specifically designed for low latency, high throughput, and deep order books.

To date, the Injective ecosystem has aggregated over 200 projects, including decentralized exchanges (Helix, DojoSwap), on-chain lending (Neptune), RWA platforms (Ondo, Mountain Protocol), and NFT marketplaces (Talis, Dagora).

In the RWA space, Injective’s advantages lie in two key areas:

1. Broad Asset Coverage: Ecosystem projects like Helix already support trading of tokenized assets, including U.S. tech stocks, gold, and forex, expanding the on-chain asset spectrum for RWAs.

2. Direct Integration with Traditional Finance: Injective has partnered with institutions like Coinbase, Circle, Fireblocks, WisdomTree, and Galaxy to establish a closed-loop process spanning off-chain custody, clearing, and on-chain trading.

Thanks to this positioning, Injective serves as a dedicated public chain foundation for RWAs, offering issuers compliant asset management channels, providing trading platforms with high-speed and low-cost execution, and laying the groundwork for future derivatives and composability in stock tokenization.

MyStonks: A Pioneer in On-Chain U.S. Stock Liquidity
As an early mover in tokenized U.S. stocks, MyStonks has partnered with Fidelity to ensure its on-chain tokens are fully backed by real stocks.

For trading, MyStonks uses a Payment for Order Flow (PFOF) model, routing orders to professional market makers to reduce slippage, lower costs, and improve execution speed and depth. For retail users, this means near-traditional brokerage liquidity combined with 24/7 trading.

Notably, MyStonks is not limited to spot trading but is actively expanding into derivatives, lending, and staking services. In the future, users will be able to trade tokenized stocks with leverage, use holdings as collateral for stablecoin liquidity, and even participate in portfolio optimization strategies.

Backed Finance: A Cross-Market Compliance Expander
Unlike MyStonks, Backed Finance takes a cross-market, multi-asset approach, with a strong focus on compliance under Europe’s MiCA regulatory framework.

Operating under Swiss law, Backed Finance issues fully backed tokenized securities on-chain and collaborates with partners like Alpaca Securities LLC to ensure 1:1 asset backing. Its offerings include U.S. stocks, ETFs, European securities, and global indices, enabling investors to access multi-market, multi-currency portfolios on a single platform—breaking traditional geographic and time barriers.

Block Street: Unlocking Liquidity for Tokenized Stocks
Block Street is one of the few DeFi protocols specializing in lending against tokenized stocks, targeting downstream liquidity solutions.

This fills a gap in the "trading layer" of tokenized stocks. Users can deposit tokens like TSLA.M or CRCL.M as collateral to borrow stablecoins or other liquid assets—enabling liquidity without selling holdings.

Block Street’s recent testnet launch allows users to unlock capital from tokenized stocks, marking a step forward for DeFi lending in this space. It remains to be seen whether lending, futures, and other derivatives will create a "second growth curve" for tokenized stocks.

How to Tear Down the Walls Further?
The biggest advancement in this wave of stock tokenization is the "real-asset custody" model combined with lower entry barriers: anyone with a crypto wallet and stablecoins can trade U.S. stocks on DEXs—no account, no time zones, no borders.

Yet most products remain at the issuance and trading stage, functioning as digital certificates rather than fully composable on-chain assets. This limits appeal to professional traders and institutions.

The situation resembles pre-DeFi Summer ETH, which couldn’t be borrowed, collateralized, or used in DeFi until protocols like Aave unlocked its potential. Tokenized stocks must follow suit, becoming "collateralizable, tradable, and composable live assets."

Thus, if the first growth curve for tokenized stocks is trading volume, the second lies in expanding financial tools to improve capital efficiency and on-chain activity—creating a virtuous cycle.

Key to this are richer trading-layer derivatives, from lending (Block Street) to shorting, options, and structured products. The winner will be whoever delivers composable, liquid products offering "spot + shorting + leverage + hedging" in one seamless on-chain experience.

Conclusion
Stock tokenization’s significance goes beyond putting stocks and ETFs on-chain—it bridges the "last mile" between traditional capital markets and blockchain. From issuance (Ondo) to trading (MyStonks, Backed Finance) and liquidity (Block Street), the ecosystem is maturing.

While U.S. Treasuries and stablecoins once dominated RWAs, tokenized stocks—as composable, tradable, and collateralizable assets—are poised to become the next major growth driver as institutional adoption accelerates and infrastructure improves.