Three Pathways for Stocks on the Blockchain: Which Model is Closer to the Ultimate Form?

In 2026, the opening bell on Wall Street lost its effect for the first time. For the past century, the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange dictated when global capital would wake and when it would sleep, with weekends and holidays strictly observed as downtime. This year, that boundary began to blur: the on-chain world, for the first time, gained the capacity to handle real order flow from the Nasdaq and NYSE, giving stocks—the oldest form of financial assets—a new 24/7 operational model.

This major shift has been driven by a series of breakthroughs in tokenized stocks since 2026. The gradual implementation of MiCA's compliance framework in Europe, the draft CLARITY Act in the US providing clearer legislative references for digital asset classification, and several leading exchanges and fintech platforms successively expanding their stock tokenization product lines have all contributed to this momentum.

Ondo Global Markets, a veteran in tokenized stocks in the US and Europe, pushed its asset scale to the billion-dollar level within months while simultaneously advancing its registration process with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Bitget's rToken connects directly to Nasdaq and the NYSE, transforming US stocks into tradable, collateralizable, and reusable crypto-native assets through unified trading accounts, margin applications, and high-frequency reserve audits. Binance also launched bStocks in June, rapidly expanding by leveraging the native traffic of the world's largest exchange.

Although most exchange-traded tokenized stock products use similar phrases like "24/7 trading" and "1:1 backing," there are significant differences in their liquidity sources, trading mechanisms, capital usage, and underlying risk structures.

For deeper insight, Odaily reporters will conduct a comparative analysis across four dimensions: liquidity sources, trading hour availability, capital efficiency and composability, and compliance licenses and custody transparency. We will also analyze the true differences between the three product models based on market size and order book data.

Evaluation Dimension Settings

The comparative dimensions used in this article include:

• Liquidity Source and Price Anchoring Mechanism
• Trading Hours and Availability
• Capital Efficiency and Composability
• Compliance Licenses and Asset Custody Transparency

These four dimensions address the key concerns of investors: whether the price reflects the actual US stock price, the ability to trade anytime, efficient capital utilization, and whether the underlying stock assets are real and verifiable. Finally, we will reference the existing transaction volume rankings of different products.

Dimension 1: Comparison of Liquidity Sources

The price anchoring mechanism represents the most critical structural difference among tokenized stock products. It is also key to determining the risk of "de-pegging," directly impacting whether traders can enter or exit positions at fair prices during critical moments.

Ondo Global Markets adopts an "Inherited Liquidity" model. By combining real-time minting and redemption mechanisms with arbitrageur activity, it keeps the token price closely aligned with the underlying stock. This design allows tokens to circulate flexibly on-chain while staying as close as possible to the underlying stock price. rToken, during US stock trading hours, directly routes spot orders to the order books of Nasdaq and NYSE via licensed brokers. Execution results are written back in real-time to the exchange's spot order records, ensuring that price and liquidity are fully synchronized with the underlying stock market. It is the only product among the three achieving exchange-level order book direct connection. Binance bStocks determines its price by anchoring to the underlying stock price via oracle data feeds. Leveraging Binance's vast user base and update mechanisms, it can quickly cover a large number of assets at a lower threshold, providing users with a real-time price tracking experience.

Each of the three products emphasizes different aspects of liquidity anchoring, representing the three currently mainstream technical paths: exchange direct connection for order matching, minting/redemption with arbitrage, and oracle tracking.

The liquidity anchoring mechanisms of the three are structurally different and cater to different use cases. Ondo's minting/redemption model is more suitable for users accustomed to native on-chain operations willing to accept some arbitrage correction lag, and is better for arbitrageurs. bStocks' oracle tracking has a lower entry barrier, making it ideal for ordinary users seeking convenience and broad asset coverage. rToken's order book direct connection model, by design, gets closer to real prices, especially during regular US trading hours where it holds an advantage in price consistency, making it suitable for traders demanding high price accuracy and low slippage.

We also conducted a practical test of actual order book data. Taking Circle's tokenized stock (CRCL) as an example, the quotes and depth across the three platforms at the same time show different strengths and weaknesses:

In this data set, all three maintained relatively tight spreads. However, in terms of order depth and 24-hour trading volume, rToken performed more prominently. Its model of accessing the native order books of stock exchanges provides a significant advantage in order execution capacity and market activity.

Dimension 2: Trading Hours and Availability

Regarding 24/7 trading capability, all three products advertise 24/7 availability for users, but the specific mechanisms differ significantly.

Ondo Global Markets' minting and redemption window is 24 hours, five days a week. On-chain transfers themselves are not time-restricted, offering users flexible asset mobility, while price discovery depends on the open status of the minting/redemption window. rToken covers regular US stock trading hours, pre-market, during-market, after-hours, and overnight sessions. Some popular assets further support truly 24/7 trading, with Bitget providing liquidity within its exchange during closed market periods for price discovery, achieving seamless transition from regular to closed hours. Binance bStocks also emphasizes 24/7 liquidity, near-instant settlement, and zero conversion fees. Leveraging the exchange's native user base allows more assets to be conveniently traded at any time.

All three products position 24/7 availability as a core capability and have established mechanisms for trading and price volatility risks during US market close, resulting in fairly complete overall product experiences and risk management frameworks. Regarding pure 24/7 level availability, Ondo falls slightly short in coverage time, making Bitget rToken and bStocks potentially more suitable for everyday users.

Dimension 3: Capital Efficiency and Composability

Capital efficiency is a core consideration for institutions and professional traders when choosing tokenized stock products. It specifically refers to whether these assets can be used as margin or collateral and whether they can be flexibly allocated across different accounts and strategies. This is where the actual practical value gaps between products become apparent. While this aspect may be less relevant for small retail investors, it is a core consideration for professional traders and institutions choosing to gain exposure to US stocks via crypto assets.

Odaily's evaluation results are as follows:

From a design perspective, the capital efficiency features of the three products differ significantly. Ondo and bStocks lean more towards "on-chain DeFi composability," relying on third-party protocol ecosystems, requiring users to bear the friction of cross-protocol operations and additional smart contract risk exposure. rToken, conversely, follows the "in-exchange institutional-grade unified margin account" route, directly integrating stock positions into scenarios like derivatives and lending, achieving multi-asset synergy within the same account system. For users seeking more on-chain DeFi functionality, Ondo and bStocks might be more suitable. However, based on the actual capital efficiency needs of professional and institutional traders, rToken's level of integration and convenience stands out more, aligning better with institutional requirements for controllable risk management.

Dimension 4: Compliance Licenses and Custody Transparency

While trading occurs on-chain, whether the underlying US stock assets genuinely exist and can be independently verified forms the basis for trust in tokenized stock products. How do the different products perform in terms of this trustworthiness?

All three products employ asset protection mechanisms combining regulated custody with independent third-party verification, establishing a relatively robust framework for compliance, transparency, and credibility of underlying assets. It is clear that after several rounds of market cleansing in the crypto space, major players in the tokenized stock direction have maximized the safeguards for underlying assets. The differences between the three are more pronounced in specific arrangements like audit frequency, information disclosure granularity, and the identity of third-party verifiers, but the perceived experience for users is largely similar.

Conclusion: Three Paths Cater to Different Investors, Each with Strengths and Challenges

Synthesizing the four dimensions and market rankings, the three paths address different needs within the tokenized stock track.

Ondo Global Markets, with its inherited liquidity model and cross-jurisdictional compliance layout, is better suited for institutions prioritizing regulatory frameworks and open on-chain applications, as well as users with high US/EU compliance needs. Binance bStocks, relying on the exchange's native traffic and on-chain ecosystem integration, offers convenience in terms of trading entry, self-custody, and on-chain circulation, making it more suitable for investors deeply embedded in the BNB ecosystem and familiar with on-chain operations. Bitget rToken, with its diverse product features, is better suited for high-frequency traders and institutional clients who are more sensitive to liquidity, capital efficiency, and cross-scenario asset allocation.

From a longer-term industry perspective, the common challenges facing tokenized stocks may be more noteworthy than the differences between individual products. Issues like cross-border financial compliance, whether genuine market demand can keep pace, and accurate pricing during closed market hours remain to be further resolved by the industry. As regulatory boundaries gradually clarify and underlying liquidity continues to deepen, the different paths will learn from each other through competition, driving this market from early experimentation toward maturity. The boundary once drawn by Wall Street is being slowly rewritten with each on-chain transaction.