Alpaca introduced a service that enables institutional investors to tokenize U.S. stock market equities and conduct real-time redemptions around the clock.
U.S.-based AlpacaDB Inc., a brokerage infrastructure provider for equity trading, announced the launch of the Instant Tokenization Network (ITN), an infrastructure solution that enables instant issuance and redemption of tokenized stocks directly from brokerage accounts. The network is open to financial institutions and operates 24/7, offering for the first time a way to bypass the trading-hour limitations of traditional markets.
The Instant Tokenization Network addresses a key challenge in the tokenized assets market — inefficient liquidity formation. Previously, market makers had to sell equities for cash in order to acquire their tokenized counterparts, which increased costs and caused pricing discrepancies with the underlying assets. The new system allows direct issuance and redemption of tokenized stocks in the underlying assets, reducing delays and minimizing the risk of price imbalances.
The network was launched during the TOKEN2049 conference in Singapore with the participation of Alpaca’s partners — Backed, Ondo Finance, Dinari, and DRW. Solana was chosen as the primary settlement layer, with support for other blockchains planned in the future. According to Alpaca’s Head of Crypto, Arush Sehgal, tokenized assets require fundamentally new infrastructure, and instant issuance and redemption mechanisms are only the first step in this direction.
ITN was integrated with crypto exchange Kraken, Belgian market maker Keyrock, and trading firm Virtu Financial, enabling the secure transfer of billions of dollars in liquidity between traditional and tokenized markets.
ITN unlocks new opportunities, including:
- traders gaining access to arbitrage strategies with guaranteed conversion;
- derivatives platforms being able to hedge positions;
- DeFi protocols redeeming tokens during collateral liquidation to obtain underlying assets.
According to Roberto Klein, Co-Founder of Backed, ITN establishes the foundation for a unified, interconnected market of tokenized stocks where liquidity can seamlessly move between traditional and decentralized financial systems.
By mid-2025, the total assets under management (AUM) in the tokenization market reached $270 billion. According to Tren Finance, by 2030, the tokenized equities market could grow to $12 trillion. Analysts at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) called tokenization technology the foundation of the future financial system.
