Glider and Ondo Finance have launched a platform enabling retail investors to build and automate custom portfolios of tokenized U.S. stocks, offering direct equity exposure without a brokerage account. The platform lets users create personalized baskets of onchain stocks that track real-world assets, removing the need for wallets, gas fees or manual transaction management.
Glider co-founder and CEO Brian Huang told Cointelegraph that, unlike traditional exchange-traded funds which bundle assets into fixed products, the platform lets users construct index-like portfolios with custom weightings that are automatically maintained, avoiding reliance on pooled products. The platform automatically executes and rebalances these portfolios, allowing users to gain exposure to tokenized equities without managing individual trades. The assets track underlying shares and can be traded beyond standard market hours.
Huang said the model avoids the liquidity constraints that have limited earlier tokenized ETF offerings: “This is the first time direct indexing has been offered for onchain stocks… The problem that all ETFs have had on chain is liquidity. There’s no liquidity constraint on Glider because these are directly indexed. You hold the underlying assets and tap into their underlying liquidity.”
Tokenized stocks on Ondo’s platform are designed to mirror the price of their underlying shares and can be transferred and traded onchain, while Glider automates portfolio construction and rebalancing without requiring users to execute transactions manually. The initial rollout will focus on tokenized U.S. equities, with plans to expand into additional asset classes such as commodities and to introduce features allowing users to lend positions and generate yield on their holdings.
An Ondo spokesperson said the platform is not currently available to U.S. users but noted the company holds several SEC registrations, positioning it for a potential future U.S. launch.
Tokenized stocks grow alongside evolution of crypto ETPs
Tokenized equities and crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) have expanded rapidly over the past year. Data from RWA.xyz shows the total value of tokenized real-world assets (RWA) has risen sharply to about $26.5 billion, up from roughly $7.5 billion a year earlier. Among RWAs onchain, around $908.5 million are tokenized stocks.
At the same time, crypto ETPs have moved beyond spot Bitcoin and Ether funds, with issuers exploring more complex and actively managed products. In February, crypto ETP issuer 21Shares launched a product giving European investors exposure to a preferred stock issued by Michael Saylor’s Strategy, the largest public holder of Bitcoin. The 21Shares Strategy Yield ETP is available to institutional and retail investors and offers a dividend linked to Strategy’s Bitcoin holdings. 21Shares president Duncan Moir said the product improves access to Strategy’s STRC preferred stock, expanding distribution and liquidity through an ETP structure and simplifying tax treatment for European investors.
Earlier this month, BlackRock expanded its crypto lineup with a Nasdaq-listed product tied to Ethereum staking: the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHB), which provides spot Ether exposure while generating potential monthly income by staking a portion of its holdings. BlackRock’s head of digital assets, Robert Mitchnick, has said the firm plans to remain cautious in expanding its crypto ETF offerings despite interest in more complex structures.
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