According to the Bloomberg report, Voyager Digital Ltd. is planning to launch a feature later this year that will allow customers to buy traditional stocks using stablecoin USDC. Voyager’s new offering is a result of a joint venture announced in May with Market Rebellion to operate a regulated broker-dealer, which will handle equity trades on behalf of Voyager’s customers.
FTX US and Bitstamp USA are also exploring offering equities trading.
The move by Voyager highlights how fast-growing cryptocurrency exchanges are expanding into new business lines to diversify their revenue sources and keep customers on their platforms with more services. FTX US and Bitstamp USA are also exploring offering equities trading, though they haven’t announced any plans to allow stablecoins in those transactions. Such moves will ramp up crypto companies’ competition with old-school brokerages like Charles Schwab Corp. and fintech players like Robinhood Markets Inc.
Voyager plans to offer users commission-free equity trades later this year.
“Incorporating stock trading, especially basing it on digital dollars, is a natural extension of what we’re doing, of our value proposition, and what consumers are going to want in the near future,” said Steve Ehrlich chief executive officer and co-founder of Voyager. The company also plans to offer users commission-free equity trades in the second half of this year, and it may receive some payment for order flow, Ehrlich said, adding that the company will be operating within all Financial Industry Regulatory Authority guidelines. Ehrlich declined to share details on the mechanics of the transactions between USDC and stocks, saying that information was proprietary.
