Is Solana genuinely disrupting the market by offering tokenized stocks, or is it simply another example of unfounded excitement? Solana’s ecosystem is notorious for its rapid transactions, minimal fees, and a trading culture revolving around meme coins alongside fleeting speculative tokens.
For a broader audience, the perception of Solana is still shaped by the underlying stereotype. With the launch of xStocks, that perception is put to the test.
Developed by Backed Finance, xStocks offers tokenized stocks for publicly listed companies such as Tesla, Apple, and Nvidia—tokenized versions of publicly listed companies.
These tokenized stocks have actual shares backing them, can be traded fractionally, and provide 24/7 trading, unlike traditional equity markets.
In only a few months, the platform has achieved $2.24 billion in combined trading volume from both centralized and decentralized exchanges.
Of this, centralized exchanges contribute approximately $2.13 billion, while decentralized exchanges account for $110.5 million. Further, on-chain transaction volume reached $434.45 million, backed by $46.21 million in assets under management from 25,345 unique wallets.
This activity integrates regulated equity exposure into Solana’s ecosystem. Sustaining this momentum will require growth in the user base, stable liquidity, and alignment with regulatory standards across multiple jurisdictions.
xStocks without U.S. & EU
Tokenized stock trading has a global structure, yet much of the conversation revolves around the U.S., as the majority of xStocks track U.S.-listed companies.
Despite this focus, American investors are unable to access these products. Regulatory restrictions exclude not only the U.S. but also Canada, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Australia from participation.
As a result, trading activity is concentrated in jurisdictions with more permissive rules or regulatory uncertainty, including parts of Asia and Latin America, but not in its domestic U.S. or European markets.
The prudent approach attests to lessons from earlier attempts. In 2021, Binance launched stock tokens but faced regulatory warnings, including from Germany’s BaFin, which stated that the exchange was offering securities without the required prospectus.
Under pressure from multiple jurisdictions, Binance closed the program. That outcome reinforced the principle that in established financial centers, tokenized equities fall under securities laws and must meet the same disclosure and compliance standards as traditional offerings.
Backed Finance, which issues xStocks, operates under a license from Liechtenstein’s financial authority, providing a regulatory framework in parts of Europe for stock tokenization, though exchanges still restrict access to markets where the legal position is clear.
American companies exploring tokenized stocks have so far limited their launches to overseas markets. Coinbase and Robinhood have kept such products outside the U.S., with Robinhood recently announcing plans to offer more than 200 tokenized U.S. equities to customers in Europe.
What stands out is that xStocks has already reached more than $2 billion in combined trading volume without participation from the world’s largest capital markets.
The absence of U.S. and EU investors has not prevented substantial adoption in regions that permit or tolerate such products. If regulatory clarity arrives in these major economies, the addressable market could expand sharply.
Solana vs. Ethereum
The dominance of a few tickers such as TSLAx, SPYx, AAPLx, and NVDAx reflects an early-stage market that is still finding its breadth.
Yet the fact that Solana now accounts for around 95% of tokenized stock activity across all blockchains shows that this use case is finding traction here before anywhere else.
Equity exposure on Ethereum: 1.23% Ethereum exists in a compliant form, although volumes have been modest compared with xStocks activity.
Swarm Markets launched tokenized Apple and Tesla shares under a BaFin-supervised model on Ethereum infrastructure, focusing on a path that prioritizes regulatory adherence over raw scale.
Ethereum holds the advantage in standards, institutional adoption, and a broad developer base, while Solana holds the advantage in live equity token turnover and cost-throughput characteristics.
That split defines the near-term face-off. If regulators open a compliant channel for retail or eligible investors, Ethereum’s permissioned token rails and existing fund infrastructure position it to attract regulated equity issuance at scale.
If exchange-led distribution and crypto-native flows remain the primary drivers, Solana’s execution speed and existing xStocks liquidity provide a clear runway for growth.
Cross-chain issuance models and bridges used by leading RWA issuers indicate that assets can follow demand across both ecosystems, which makes a dual-track outcome plausible rather than a winner-takes-all scenario.
A practical expectation emerges for the next phase. Ethereum is likely to remain the preferred base for issuers that require granular permissioning, identity checks, and institutional custody, supported by standards like ERC-3643 and the signal sent by live products such as BUIDL and BENJI.
Solana is likely to remain the leading venue for high-frequency equity token trading unless or until major regulated marketplaces on Ethereum present comparable access and fees.
A shift in U.S. or EU policy could narrow the gap quickly by directing regulated liquidity toward permissioned rails, at which point Solana’s path would hinge on continued exchange integrations and the maturation of compliance-aware tooling in its ecosystem.
