EToro Plans to Tokenize Stocks on Ethereum and Offer 24/7 Trading

Online brokerage eToro will unveil tokenized stocks on the Ethereum blockchain, the company announced Tuesday. 

The new feature will allow clients to buy and sell stocks around the clock—24 hours, seven days a week—in the form of ECR-20 tokens. 

eToro said that 24/5 trading of 100 of the most popular U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs will come first. 

"We are part of the largest transfer of wealth in human history, from older generations to younger generations—with the rise of retail investors," eToro CEO Yoni Assia said in a webinar announcing the new product. 

"[Younger, retail investors] are finding out about capital markets," he said, adding that a big part of the transfer of wealth will be via new technologies and a paradigm shift in financial systems.

The announcement comes as eToro and other financial services firms have expanded their crypto-related services and amid growing interest in tokenization. The Israel-based firm has long been involved in tokenizing assets for its customers, introducing tokenized gold and silver after buying Danish token startup Firmo in 2019. 

In March, BlackRock, the world’s biggest fund manager, announced its first tokenized fund. Its USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund runs on Ethereum, the blockchain behind the second biggest cryptocurrency by market cap, ETH. BlackRock CEO and one-time crypto skeptic Larry Fink has come around to the idea. 

Real-world assets have notched a combined $12.19 billion in total-value locked on decentralized platforms as digitizing traditional financial instruments becomes increasingly popular in Web3.

Analysts are forecasting further gains in the market as investors flock to tokenized RWA products. Global investment firm VanEck has predicted RWAs will surpass $50 billion in market capitalization by the end of 2025.

Ethereum is the dominant platform for tokenization. 

eToro was among the earliest firms to explore Bitcoin, acquiring its first BTC when the largest cryptocurrency by market value was selling for $5 (it subsequently sold these early holdings), and allowed trading of the asset in 2013. It added the same service for a range of other tokens. 

eToro was down more than 4 in Tuesday trading and is off nearly 10 year-to-date, according to Yahoo Finance. Ethereum was trading at $3,775, down the better part of a percentage point over the past 24 hours, according to crypto data provider CoinGecko.