Crypto Exchanges Navigate Complex Web of Partnerships and Rival Systems
Crypto exchanges are expanding into traditional stock trading, but behind the scenes they're navigating a complex web of partnerships and rival systems. Kraken's co-CEO Arjun Sethi said in April 2025 that crypto is becoming 'the backbone for trading across asset classes', while his exchange quietly joined a group led by DTCC to build a rival system.
Exchanges like Coinbase, Kraken, and Crypto.com offer commission-free stock trading through licensed brokerages, while others like Bybit and OKX sell tokenized stocks that track the price of real shares. But these tokens don't give buyers ownership or voting rights, unlike traditional stocks.
The SEC has weighed in on this issue, saying that if a company tokenizes its own stock directly, the token is treated just like the regular stock. However, if a third-party creates a token to track a stock's price, it falls into one of two buckets: either the token-maker holds real shares for the buyer or it's just a side-bet contract.
MEXC took an interesting turn by launching RealStocks, a product that hands buyers actual shares and real dividends instead of a price-tracking token. This move positions MEXC directly against its own synthetic exposure product.