The Most Watched US Exchange Just Launched Its Biggest Product Everywhere Except the US
Gregory Cowles
Chief Strategy Officer, Co-Founder
.jpg)
This Post is disseminated on behalf of Intellistake Technologies Corp.
Coinbase is the largest publicly traded crypto exchange in the United States. It is regulated, it is listed on Nasdaq, and it has spent years building relationships with American regulators. This month it announced one of its most ambitious products yet: tokenized stocks, backed one-to-one by real shares, with dividends and shareholder rights attached.
And the first place it will offer them is not the United States.
The launch is aimed at international users, outside the US, with a target of August 2026. A US company, building a US capital-markets product, tracking US stocks, and pointing it at everywhere but home.
And that is the whole story.
What Coinbase is actually building
So let’s start with what the product is, because the wording is key.
Most tokenized stock products that already exist track the price of a company's shares without giving you the thing underneath. They are derivatives, or IOUs, or synthetic exposure. You get the chart. You do not get ownership.
Coinbase is describing something different. Each token is meant to be backed by an actual share of the underlying company, held by a custodian, with the dividends and shareholder rights that come with real ownership. Brian Armstrong has framed it as owning a genuine piece of the company on-chain rather than a wrapper that mimics the price.
If it works the way it is described, that is a meaningful step up from what came before. The difference between tracking a price and holding an asset is the difference between a betting slip and a share certificate. The first listing is reportedly SpaceX, freshly public and exactly the kind of brand that draws attention from people who do not normally think about blockchain at all.
I think the more interesting word in the announcement is not "backed," but "offshore."
Why the home market is the hard part
The reason Coinbase is starting abroad is straightforward, and it is worth understanding because it explains the shape of this entire market.
In most of the world, the path to offering a tokenized stock is clearer. A regulated custodian holds the real shares, the issuer operates under a securities framework, and non-US users can buy the token. This is not theoretical. Kraken has been offering tokenized US equities to non-US clients for over a year. Robinhood has done the same for European users. Gemini, Bybit, and Backed Finance all operate versions of it.
Notice the common thread. Every one of those products is available outside the United States and blocked inside it.
The barrier has never been the technology. The barrier has been a US rulebook written for a different era. For American retail investors, the regulatory framework simply has not allowed tokenized versions of public stocks to trade. So the most sophisticated capital market in the world has been watching this category develop from the sidelines, while users in other jurisdictions trade the product freely.
This is the paradox. The country that produced these companies, these exchanges, and these stocks is the one place you cannot yet buy them in tokenized form.
The rule that may change it
On June 11, the SEC proposed rescinding Rule 611 of Regulation NMS, a piece of plumbing from 2005 known as the Order Protection Rule. In plain terms, it required every trading venue to route an order to whichever exchange showed the best quote. It was designed for a world of competing stock exchanges, and it quietly made on-chain US equity trading very difficult to do within the rules.
Pair that with earlier guidance distinguishing genuine issuer-backed equity from synthetic imitations, and you can see the outline of something deliberate. Not a casual concession. A framework taking shape.
If that rule goes, the single biggest obstacle to tokenized US stocks trading on-chain inside the US starts to come down. And the same exchanges currently launching offshore, Coinbase, Robinhood, Kraken, Gemini, are the ones positioned to move the moment the door opens.
So the offshore launches are not the destination. They are the rehearsal. Companies are building the product, the custody, and the user experience in the jurisdictions where it is allowed today, so they are ready for the much larger market that may open tomorrow.
Why a traditional investor should care
It would be easy to read this as a crypto story. A crypto exchange, launching a crypto-adjacent product, in crypto-friendly jurisdictions. File it under "things that do not affect me."
That would be a mistake.
What is being built here is a parallel set of rails for owning ordinary company shares. Around-the-clock trading instead of fixed market hours. Near-instant settlement instead of a multi-day wait. Programmable ownership instead of a static entry in a brokerage account. These are not features aimed at speculators. They are answers to inefficiencies that have lived inside traditional markets for decades.
And the companies racing to build them are not fringe operators. They are regulated, listed, and competing directly with conventional brokerages for the same customers.
This connects to something we have written about before. The value in a shift like this rarely sits where the headline points. Everyone is watching which stock lists first. The more durable question is who provides the custody, the settlement, and the network infrastructure underneath every one of these tokens, regardless of which exchange wins the front end.
The internet did not create value because websites existed. It created value through the servers, the networks, and the data centres that let the whole thing run. Tokenized stocks may turn out to be the same. The asset on the screen gets the attention. The infrastructure beneath it does the work.
What to watch next
The details that matter most have not been published yet.
Watch the legal structure: do token holders actually receive dividends and shareholder rights, or is "backed" doing more work in the marketing than in the mechanics? Watch the jurisdictions: where exactly can you buy these, and where are they blocked? Watch the August timeline, and whether it holds. And watch what the SEC does after the Rule 611 comment period, because that single decision will shape whether this stays an offshore product or becomes a domestic one.
For now, the signal is clear enough. The most regulated, most visible exchange in American crypto just told you where it thinks ownership is heading by launching its biggest product everywhere it legally can. The fact that "everywhere it legally can" does not yet include its own country is not a weakness in the plan.
It is the most honest thing about it.
Disclaimer
There has been significant volatility in digital assets and their value can decline rapidly, which in turn would lead to a decline in the stock price of companies holding digital assets. Intellistake is a start-up that does not have the same access to capital as other larger more established companies.
Intellistake has just commenced operating its business and is at an early stage of development. Intellistake is entering this space by acquiring and operating blockchain validator hardware that supports AI networks and investing in AI-related digital tokens to primarily operate validator hardware.
Intellistake is presently evaluating the regulatory framework for tokenization. Any tokenization will be subject to it being completed in compliance with applicable law, regulatory requirements and terms of any underlying agreements associated with the underlying assets. The actual structure of such tokenization, the assets that would be subject to tokenization, and the associated timeline, have not yet been determined. Intellistake will provide further updates as material developments related to this tokenization strategy occur.
Intellistake is developing custom AI software systems called "AI Agents" for businesses. It recently announced the development of IntelliScope, a newly designed enterprise artificial-intelligence (AI) suite that applies decentralized AI technologies to deliver transparent and verifiable corporate intelligence. IntelliScope, which is in testing, is being publicly introduced as Intellistake's enterprise AI suite, reflecting the Company's focus on advancing practical applications of decentralized AI technologies.
The IntelliScope suite is being developed as a collection of modular AI agents, each intended to address specific enterprise challenges. Development has advanced through internal closed testing, where functionality is being refined and validated. Built to leverage decentralized AI technologies developed within the ASI Alliance FET token ecosystem, IntelliScope is now preparing to move into closed beta testing with an enterprise client, a phase focused on gathering feedback to shape premium features and expand real-world use cases.
The Company intends to deliver these solutions either as one-time projects or ongoing subscription services. Revenue is expected to come from implementation fees and monthly subscription payments. The Company does not presently have any customers. Intellistake is just commencing operations. It is targeting significant growth but its business is subject to several risks related to general business, economic and social uncertainties; the sufficiency of cash to meet liquidity needs; legislative, political and competitive developments; the inherent risks involved in the digital currency and general securities markets; the volatility of digital currency prices and the additional risks identified in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company’s filings with applicable securities regulators. Intellistake has not yet developed or commercialized its AI solutions.
Completion of the Singularity Venture Hub (“SVH”) acquisition remains subject to completion of satisfactory due diligence, the negotiation, and execution of a definitive agreement ("Definitive Agreement") that will include representations, warranties, covenants, indemnities, termination rights, and other provisions customary for a transaction of this nature, no objection from the Canadian Securities Exchange, and shareholder approval of SVH, if required.
This report contains "forward-looking information" concerning anticipated developments and events related to the Company that may occur in the future. Forward looking information contained in this report includes, but is not limited to, all statements in respect of the Company's growth and development, the operations and business segments of the Company, support for decentralized AI and blockchain networks, the details of the collaboration with Orbit AI and its expected benefits; the Company’s contributions towards the collaboration with Orbit AI; the timelines for Orbit AI’s operation; and Intellistake’s strategy to support tokenized, decentralized AI infrastructure.
In certain cases, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as "expects", "intends", "anticipates" or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "would", or "might" suggesting future outcomes, or other expectations, assumptions, intentions or statements about future events or performance. Forward-looking information contained in this report is based on certain assumptions regarding, among other things, the Company and SVH satisfy all conditions necessary to close the proposed transaction; the Company will continue to have access to financing until it achieves profitability; obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals; the technology and blockchain industries in which the Company intends to focus its business in will grow at the rate and in the manner expected; the ability to attract qualified personnel; the success of market initiatives and the ability to grow brand awareness; the ability to distribute Company's services; the Company creates strategies to mitigate risks associated with cryptocurrency price fluctuations; the Company and SVH remain compliant with all applicable laws and securities regulations and applicable licensing requirements; the Company engages and collaborates with local experts, as necessary, to address jurisdiction-specific matters and ensures compliance with foreign regulations to avoid penalties; the Company addresses any potential cybersecurity threats promptly and effectively; the ability of the Company to develop its technology, acquire customers and have revenue; the ability to successfully deploy the new business strategy as a result of the change of business. While the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable, they may be incorrect.
Forward looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed by the forward-looking information. Such factors include risks related to general business, economic and social uncertainties; failure of the Company and SVH to satisfy all conditions necessary to close the proposed transaction; failure to raise the capital necessary to fund its operations; inability to create strategies to mitigate the risks associated with cryptocurrency price fluctuations; the costs of regulation in the digital asset industries increase to the extent that the Company is no longer generating sufficient returns for shareholders; failure to promptly and effectively address cybersecurity threats; insufficient resources to maintain its operations on a competitive basis; and the actual costs, timing and future plans differs expectations; legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; the inherent risks involved in the cryptocurrency and general securities markets; the Company may not be able to profitably liquidate its current digital currency inventory, or at all; a decline in digital currency prices may have a significant negative impact on the Company's operations; the Company's success may depend on the continued involvement of key personnel, including advisors, whose involvement cannot be guaranteed; institutional adoption of decentralized AI infrastructure remains uncertain and may not occur at the pace or scale anticipated; evolving regulatory frameworks, including those related to AI (such as Canada's proposed Artificial Intelligence and Data Act), may impose additional compliance burdens or restrict certain business activities; valuation figures are based on publicly available market data and internal assessments at the time of the referenced transactions and may not reflect current or future valuations; the volatility of digital currency prices; the inherent uncertainty of cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses, currency fluctuations; regulatory restrictions, liability, competition, loss of key employees and other related risks and uncertainties; delay or failure to receive regulatory approvals; failure to attract qualified personnel, labour disputes; and the additional risks identified in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's filings with applicable Canadian securities regulators.
Although the Company has attempted to identify factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The forward-looking information is made as of the date of this report. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update forward-looking information.
