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Coinbase has begun rolling out access to nearly 4,000 U.S. stocks for eligible UK users, bringing 24/5 equities trading, zero-commission investing and USDC-funded purchases to its platform as it expands its Everything Exchange strategy.

According to Coinbase, eligible UK customers will progressively gain access to buy, sell and manage U.S. equities alongside their crypto and fiat holdings from Aug. 6. The company said users can fund purchases instantly with GBP or USDC, trade fractional shares from as little as £1, and access nearly 4,000 U.S. stocks within the Coinbase app.

The rollout adds another product to Coinbase’s UK lineup after the exchange introduced savings accounts and crypto-backed borrowing earlier this year. It also advances the company’s “Everything Exchange” strategy, which seeks to bring traditional financial products and digital assets into a single platform.

UK users can trade U.S. stocks with GBP or USDC

Beginning Aug. 6, eligible UK users will receive phased access to select U.S. equities, Coinbase said. Trading is available 24 hours a day for five days each week, extending access beyond normal U.S. market hours.

Users can fund purchases directly with GBP or existing USDC balances without moving assets to another platform. Coinbase One subscribers are also eligible to earn uncapped rewards on their USDC holdings while using the service.

The company said fractional investing allows users to purchase portions of shares from as little as £1, lowering the minimum amount needed to invest in U.S. companies.

According to Coinbase, it is the first crypto-native trading application to launch direct access to U.S. equities in the UK. The company said the product is intended to let customers manage stocks, crypto and cash balances from one account instead of using separate investment platforms.

Orders are routed through Coinbase Capital Markets Corporation for execution by Apex, while U.S. shares are custodied by Apex Clearing in the United States, Keith Grose, Coinbase’s Regional Managing Director for the UK and Europe, told The Block.

Everything Exchange strategy now includes UK stock trading

The latest launch follows Coinbase’s June announcement outlining plans to combine crypto trading, stocks, commodities, derivatives, lending, payments and artificial intelligence tools within what it calls the Everything Exchange.

At the time, the company said it wanted to replace separate financial accounts with a unified platform capable of supporting multiple asset classes around the clock. It also argued that blockchain infrastructure could reduce settlement delays and remove restrictions created by traditional market hours.

Adding U.S. equities in the UK brings part of that roadmap into production. Alongside crypto trading, UK users can now access savings products, borrowing services and stock investing from the same application.

Grose told The Block that Coinbase plans to introduce additional products across both the UK and European Union over the coming months as it continues building compliant infrastructure for the platform.

He also said the company chose conventional U.S. equities before tokenized stocks because it wanted to provide immediate value to UK customers. While Coinbase views tokenized equities as an important part of financial markets in the future, Grose said the company intends to work with regulators before introducing them.

UK regulation has opened new products for Coinbase

Grose said Coinbase’s recently obtained UK MiFID licence expanded the company’s ability to introduce additional financial products, including equities for retail investors and derivatives for professional traders.

He added that the UK’s upcoming crypto regulatory framework gives Coinbase the certainty needed to continue expanding its integrated financial platform. The Financial Conduct Authority has already finalized its rules, while the authorization gateway is expected to open in September ahead of the regime taking effect in October 2027.

Coinbase said survey data continues to show UK retail investors participate in stock markets at lower rates than investors in the United States. The company believes offering U.S. stocks with longer trading hours inside an app already used for crypto could make stock investing more accessible.

Risk disclosures accompanying the launch state that out-of-hours trading carries additional risks and that fractional share trading is unavailable outside normal U.S. market hours. Coinbase also noted that U.S. equities are denominated in dollars, meaning exchange-rate movements will affect purchases funded with GBP.

CB Payments Ltd is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority for investment services and electronic money activities. The company also reminded users that capital remains at risk and that third parties execute, clear and settle equity trades.

USDC remains part of Coinbase’s expansion plans

Funding stock purchases with USDC extends the role of the stablecoin across Coinbase’s product lineup.

Earlier this week, Circle confirmed during its second-quarter earnings call that its commercial agreement with Coinbase had automatically renewed on existing terms, extending the partnership through 2029. Under that arrangement, Coinbase continues supporting USDC across its services while receiving a share of reserve income generated under the collaboration agreement.

Circle previously reported that 30% of USDC in circulation was held on Coinbase’s platform at the end of the second quarter, making the exchange one of the stablecoin’s largest distribution channels.

The latest stock launch therefore adds another use case for customers already holding USDC inside Coinbase’s ecosystem, allowing them to move directly between crypto assets, stablecoins and U.S. equities without first converting funds outside the platform.

Coinbase has been expanding similar financial services outside the UK as well. In June, the company introduced direct Indian rupee deposits and withdrawals through IMPS after reopening the Indian market in late 2025, giving local customers bank-linked access to crypto trading alongside spot markets and perpetual futures.

Recent launches across the UK and India continue building the product lineup Coinbase outlined earlier this year, combining traditional financial services with crypto products inside a single regulated platform.

Real-world assets (RWAs) are moving from experiment to utility, with tokenized versions of traditional investments increasingly showing up as collateral, yield sources, and trading instruments on-chain.

According to a joint CoinShares and Token Terminal report published Thursday, RWA deposits across decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms more than tripled year over year to $7.4 billion in Q2 2026. Over the same period, total DeFi deposits declined by about 15%, underscoring a widening split between broad DeFi activity and RWA-specific demand.

Key takeaways

• RWA deposits surged to $7.4B in Q2 2026, more than tripling year over year, even as overall DeFi deposits fell ~15%.
• Yield-bearing stablecoins and tokenized Treasuries are the largest RWA categories used as on-chain collateral and liquidity.
• RWA spot trading volumes rose ~220% year over year while overall DEX volumes fell about 70%.
• RWA derivatives activity is expanding, with RWA-focused perpetual futures seeing sharp growth since launch on tradeXYZ.

RWA demand is pulling away from broader DeFi trends

The report’s most striking datapoint is the contrast between RWA growth and the cooling of mainstream DeFi. CoinShares CEO Jean-Marie Mognetti framed the divergence as evidence that RWA demand is not solely dependent on wider market conditions.

“When an asset class grows through a downturn in its host ecosystem, demand is being driven by financial utility, not by market cycles,” Mognetti said in connection with the findings.

CoinShares and Token Terminal also characterize the shift as part of a broader transition: RWAs are increasingly being used for collateral, yield strategies, and trading exposure across onchain markets—rather than merely being issued and held.

Yield-bearing stablecoins and tokenized Treasuries lead deployments

Across DeFi platforms, the report identifies yield-bearing stablecoins and tokenized Treasury products as the dominant RWA asset types in active use.

In Q2, Sky Protocol’s sUSDS was noted as the category leader. The token provides exposure to a yield-generating version of Sky Protocol’s USDS stablecoin, reflecting a growing pattern: traders and borrowers are increasingly looking for stable or cash-like instruments that can also generate returns.

The report also points to tokenized Treasury funds as a major source of on-chain collateral. BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) is specifically mentioned as part of this broader category, suggesting that institutional-grade cash management structures are finding a role inside decentralized lending and borrowing.

CoinShares and Token Terminal further state that yields across RWA products currently span roughly 3.2% to 5.5%. The report attributes the lower end of that range largely to Treasury-linked products, while higher-yield strategies are associated with additional risks. For participants, the practical takeaway is that “RWA yield” is not a single product feature—it is an outcome shaped by instrument type and underlying risk.

Gold and yield-bearing dollars are driving RWA trading

Beyond deposits, the report highlights how RWAs are shaping trading activity on decentralized exchanges. Gold-backed tokens and yield-bearing dollar products accounted for a large share of RWA trading volumes.

CoinShares categorizes gold-backed stablecoins such as Tether Gold (XAUt) and Paxos Gold (PAXG) as tokenized gold products within its RWA framework. The report says these assets generated meaningful trading volume as investors rotated around gold price moves.

On the dollar side, yield-bearing stablecoin infrastructure such as Ethena’s sUSDe contributed to RWA spot activity. The underlying theme is consistent: tokenized real-world exposure is being used as both a return-bearing allocation and a tradable instrument, rather than only a “hold-to-exposure” product.

In terms of performance, the report notes that RWA spot trading volumes rose about 220% year over year despite a broader ~70% drop in overall DEX volumes. CoinShares and Token Terminal interpret the divergence as evidence that tokenized assets are increasingly operating as secondary-market instruments—allowing users to trade ownership and exposure over time, not just participate in primary issuance.

RWAs are reaching derivatives: from spot to leverage

The report also argues that RWAs are expanding into leveraged markets, particularly derivatives—where traders can take exposure without holding the underlying tokenized asset itself.

It notes that RWA perpetual futures trading has continued growing even as crypto-native derivatives overall have slowed. A key example cited is tradeXYZ, described as an RWA-focused perpetual futures platform built on Hyperliquid. The report states that trading volume on tradeXYZ has increased roughly 20 times since launch, with activity concentrating around commodities and major equity indexes, including the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100, as well as technology stocks. The report also says open interest has continued rising.

For market participants, this matters because derivatives participation can change how RWAs are priced and hedged. If liquidity deepens in futures and perpetual products, the tokenized assets may become more integrated with broader trading and risk-management workflows—though the report does not provide further breakdowns on settlement mechanics or market risk.

What to watch next

With RWA deposits growing while overall DeFi deposits contract, the key question is whether this pattern continues as more yield-bearing stablecoins, tokenized Treasuries, and commodity-linked tokens expand across both spot and derivatives. Investors and builders should watch for further growth in RWA secondary liquidity, changes in risk profiles across yield strategies, and whether derivative platforms sustain their momentum beyond early traction.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law creating a regulated framework for cryptocurrency markets in Russia.

Putin signed bill No. 1194918-8, titled “On Digital Currencies and Digital Rights,” into law on Tuesday, according to official records from the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament. The legislation establishes rules for crypto market participants, including exchanges, brokers, custodians and other crypto service providers.

The law requires crypto exchange operators to meet regulatory requirements and join a financial market self-regulatory organization. It limits retail investors to buying approved crypto assets through intermediaries, with an annual cap of 300,000 rubles ($3,700) per intermediary. Qualified investors will be allowed to purchase any cryptocurrency without such restrictions.

The core provisions of the law take effect on Sept. 1, 2026, while some measures, including rules for non-resident digital depositories, will take effect on July 1, 2027. The law also maintains a ban on using crypto assets to pay for goods and services inside Russia.

The State Duma approved the legislation after final readings in late July. Under the law, the Bank of Russia will oversee the regulated crypto market, issue related rules and determine which crypto assets licensed intermediaries can offer.

Related: Russia expands crypto mining ban to Moscow through 2032

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