April 14, 2021, that much is certain, will go down in the history of the crypto industry. Because around the IPO of Coinbase, about which we report in detail, there is now a highly prominent free rider who also wants to benefit from the event: Binance. This is Coinbase’s biggest rival in the crypto market, which operates an exchange that is much larger in terms of trading volume.

And because Binance no longer sees itself only as an exchange for Bitcoin and hundreds of other crypto assets, but also wants to offer its users something beyond that, the company recently introduced tokenized shares, as reported. It started with Tesla, now, on April 14th today, you had to expect Coinbase. The COIN token is only a representation of a real COIN share.

“Binance Stock Tokens are commission-free digital tokens that are fully secured by a portfolio of underlying securities that represent the tokens issued. Stock token holders qualify for economic income from the underlying stocks, including potential dividends, ”said Binance.

In contrast to real shares, the owner of a token share has no voting rights, so you are not entitled to participate in the general meeting. The real shares that the tokens represent are held by a German company. The tokens track and reflect the price of the real shares.

Deutsche CM-Equity AG has the real shares

For the offer, Binance has brought two European companies on board, namely the investment company CM-Equity AG from Munich and the asset tokenization platform Digital Assets AG from Switzerland. Unlike Bitcoin and Co., the share tokens are not tradable around the clock, but only during the regular trading hours of the respective exchanges. Due to regulatory restrictions, it will not be possible to offer the COIN tokens in the USA, China and Turkey. What the share tokens also make possible: Users can also buy small parts and not just whole shares – this suits young small investors who want to invest little money.

The buyer of a COIN token at Binance does not get the share itself, but only the token. “Each token is fully backed by shares held by CM-Equity AG, a licensed and fully regulated asset management company in Germany,” it says. “CM-Equity AG entrusts the acquired shares to an external broker company for safekeeping. In addition, CM-Equity AG will monitor all trading activities with regard to compliance. ”

Cash only

Der zweite Partner von Binance, die Digital Assets AG aus der Schweiz, hat in der Vergangenheit bereits auch mit der Krypto-Exchange Bittrex zusammen gearbeitet und dort tokenisierte Aktien von Google, Facebook, Netflix, Amazon, Apple oder Tesla eingeführt. Das Thema und das Angebot ist also nicht neu, bekommt durch die Einführung bei der weltgrößten Krypto-Exchange aber eine neue Dimension.

Binance-Nutzer, die sich Aktien-Token kaufen wollen, unterliegen strengeren Regeln als jenen, die einfach nur Crypto-to-Crypto handeln wollen. Generell müssen sich sich mit Ausweis und und Gesichtserkennung identifizieren, Nutzer aus Deutschland müssen darüber hinaus auch ihre Adresse bestätigen und ein Risk Assessment durchlaufen. Eine weitere Einschränkung: die Aktien-Token können nur gegen Cash gekauft werden, aber nicht mit Bitcoin oder anderen Krypto-Assets. Nutzer zahlen dazu Dollar oder Euro ein und bekommen dafür den Stablecoin BUSD – mit diesem können sie COIN- oder TSLA-Token dann erst kaufen.