Regarding the centralization issues involved in RWA trading and the potential role of centralized institutions in RWA trading, I had previously made some analogies and guesses based on my understanding of USDC, but I have not received confirmation on the details.
Recently, there have been many articles and accounts online discussing a popular area in RWA: stock token trading (which involves tokenizing stocks for users to trade on-chain), and these articles provide detailed technical insights and implementation processes for stock token trading.
Taking this opportunity, I studied these articles to enrich my understanding of some details.
Today, I would like to share some key details about stock token trading.
In stock token trading, users are ostensibly trading tokens, but in reality, they are trading the stocks represented by those tokens. To ensure that this transaction is secure and reliable in terms of ownership, the key is to guarantee that when a user holds a token, they actually hold the stock represented by that token.
However, in most current implementations, centralization institutions have not been eliminated; rather, they are strongly bound. The common practice is that the stocks represented by the tokens need to be frozen, and then the token issuance platform issues tokens corresponding to the frozen stocks on a 1:1 basis.
As long as the token exists on that token platform, the corresponding stock must be frozen.
This achieves 100% collateralization of stock tokens with actual stocks.
Where are these stocks frozen?
The current common practice is to have them collateralized and frozen on brokerage platforms.
When the number of tokens purchased by users on the token platform exceeds the frozen stocks, the platform must purchase more stocks on the brokerage platform to freeze; when users sell a large number of tokens, leading to a decrease in demand for the corresponding stocks, the platform can release the frozen stocks on the brokerage platform.
This is the current technical implementation of stock token trading.
From a technical perspective, this process is very similar to USDC.
Both involve 100% custody of the "physical" asset, followed by the issuance of corresponding tokens on the blockchain. The only difference is that one is collateralized by dollars, issuing a stablecoin corresponding to the dollars; while the other is collateralized by stocks, issuing stock tokens corresponding to the stocks.
In this type of stock token trading, the strength of the stock token trading platform entirely depends on the liquidity of stocks it can attract: whichever token platform has the strength to "freeze" enough stocks can bring enough "stocks" to the crypto platform and issue tokens.
By this standard, it is evident that Robinhood stands out among the competitors in this space, as it is itself a brokerage and already possesses considerable stock resources. Freezing stocks and issuing stock tokens is merely a game of transferring from one hand to the other for it.
I believe industry insiders can understand this play, and it certainly won't be exclusive to any one company. Moreover, looking at the entire U.S. brokerage industry, there are quite a few firms that are stronger than Robinhood. Therefore, this lucrative opportunity is undoubtedly enticing for large institutions.
But what about retail investors?
Will there be any benefits for them?
A recent regulation in Hong Kong's stablecoin policy has made me adopt a cautious attitude towards this.
A certain regulation in Hong Kong requires stablecoin holders to undergo KYC. In fact, current U.S. stock brokerage platforms also require KYC. I believe that future stock token trading platforms, especially those compliant trading platforms, will likely also have KYC requirements.
If that is the case, what is the difference between that and opening a KYC account on a brokerage platform?
Additionally, I am very concerned about the critical role of centralized platforms in this implementation: they are key to providing liquidity. Regulatory agencies can completely control the entire business by restricting them.
My interest in stock token trading has always been quite lukewarm because I am not very interested in trading stocks on-chain, but I am more interested in trading equity in unlisted companies on-chain.
However, after reviewing the above implementation method, my interest in trading equity has also diminished significantly. Since regulatory agencies can require KYC for participants in stock trading, the requirements for regulating equity trading will likely be even higher, demanding stricter and higher standards of KYC than for stocks.
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