Update (Sept. 3, 1:15 pm UTC): This article has been updated to clarify that Trust Wallet is owned by former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, and is no longer owned by Binance following its share sale in 2023..
Trust Wallet, the self-custodial crypto wallet owned by Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, has integrated tokenized stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) into its platform.
After initially disclosing the plan to introduce real-world assets (RWAs) in June, Trust Wallet has launched tokenized versions of US stocks and ETFs for use around the globe, the company said in an announcement shared with Cointelegraph on Wednesday.
The integration is carried out in collaboration with Ondo Finance, a major decentralized finance (DeFi) platform focused on RWAs, and the decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator 1inch.
“Integrating RWAs into self-custodial wallets is an important step in making global finance more open and efficient,” Trust Wallet CEO Eowyn Chen said.
“The bigger picture is how blockchain democratizes access to financial markets and lays the foundation for a more inclusive future of finance,” she added.
Ondo brings the assets, 1inch powers the rails
As part of the collaboration, Ondo Finance will supply Trust Wallet with tokenized RWA assets — stocks, ETFs and bonds — initially issued on Ethereum using smart contracts, with Solana support planned next.
In the meantime, 1inch Fusion enhances liquidity and pricing to ensure smooth, efficient swaps into RWAs.
“In short, Ondo brings the assets, 1inch powers the rails, and Trust Wallet makes it accessible in self-custody, acting as a platform or tool,” Trust Wallet’s marketing head, Sami Waittinen, told Cointelegraph, adding:
“Trust Wallet’s philosophy has always been multichain and provider-agnostic. This is just the beginning — we’ll be integrating more RWA providers and liquidity sources over time, so users get the broadest, most open access possible.”
According to the Trust Wallet website, RWA tokens are not available in specific regions, including the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Economic Area. “Your swap will not go through if you reside in a region where RWA tokens are not available,” Trust Wallet said.
Additionally, RWA swapping follows US market hours, from Monday to Friday, 1:30 pm to 8:00 pm UTC, the company website said. “You can’t trade RWAs outside of these hours, but we track off-hours interest for future features like 24/7 trading or limit orders,” it said.
Confluence of self-custody and RWAs
By launching RWA support on its self-custodial wallet, Trust Wallet has emerged as one of the first platforms to integrate the concept of RWAs and self-custody.
While self-custody enables users to manage their assets independently, free from centralized control, tokenized RWAs are digital representations of real-world properties serving as certificates of ownership.
According to Trust Wallet’s Sami Waittinen, the collaboration aligns with the company’s mission of promoting freedom of ownership and providing people with direct, secure access to the full spectrum of crypto and Web3 opportunities.
“Tokenized RWAs are a natural next step as they unlock traditionally gated assets like stocks or ETFs, and make them accessible to anyone, anywhere, from their own wallet. It’s a powerful extension of what self-custody can mean,” he said.
Lucien Bourdon, an analyst at the hardware wallet company Trezor, distinguished two perspectives when addressing the mix of self-custody and RWAs.
“If a blockchain supports real-world asset tokens, any self-custodial hardware wallet that supports that chain can hold them securely,” Bourdon told Cointelegraph.
Related: Tokenized alternative funds jump 47% to $1.7B in 30 days
From the wallet’s perspective, he said there’s no difference between an RWA token and any other token, adding that some examples, like gold or Treasury-backed tokens, are already being stored this way.
There is an important distinction between the two from an ownership perspective, though, he said.
“With cryptocurrencies, your keys equal direct ownership of the asset. With real-world assets or stablecoins, your keys secure the token, but the underlying asset remains with an issuer or custodian,” Bourdon said, adding:
“That means self-custody works technically, but trust in the issuer is still essential.”
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