BitGo and OTC Markets Want to Let 150 Broker-Dealers Trade Tokenized Securities on the Same Systems They Already Use for Stocks

Digital asset infrastructure company BitGo and OTC Markets Group, the operator of regulated over-the-counter securities markets, have announced a partnership that could let more than 150 broker-dealers quote, trade, and settle tokenized digital asset securities using the exact same electronic trading systems they already use for regular stocks.

By Keisha Williams | July 22, 2026

The Hook

For years, the promise of tokenized securities — real financial assets like stocks and bonds represented as tokens on a blockchain — has been hampered by a simple problem: the traditional finance world and the crypto world run on completely different plumbing. Broker-dealers, the firms that connect buyers and sellers in financial markets, have largely been locked out of digital asset trading because the infrastructure is foreign to them.

That could be about to change. BitGo, a digital asset infrastructure provider that recently became a federally chartered national trust bank, and OTC Markets Group, which operates the OTC Link ATS alternative trading system regulated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, have laid out plans to integrate digital asset trading and custody directly into the existing infrastructure that broker-dealers already use every day.

The announcement sent OTC Markets Group shares up roughly 2.7 percent to 53.50 per share by midday on the day of the news, a sign that investors see real commercial potential in the move.

How It Works

The proposed alliance works by slotting BitGo into two critical roles that traditional broker-dealers cannot easily handle on their own: custody and settlement.

Under the framework, BitGo Bank and Trust would act as the qualified custodian — a legally defined role meaning the bank holds client assets safely and separately from its own balance sheet. This matters because SEC regulations require institutional investors to use qualified custodians for certain types of assets. By having a federal trust bank charter (which BitGo received final approval for from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in December), BitGo can serve that role under federal banking oversight.

Settlement — the actual transfer of assets after a trade — would run through BitGo’s Go Network. Think of it like the behind-the-scenes clearinghouse that makes sure tokens actually move from seller to buyer after a deal is struck.

The key innovation is that broker-dealers would interact with all of this through OTC Link ATS, the same alternative trading system they already use for over-the-counter equities. No new terminals, no new compliance workflows, no crypto-native systems to learn. They would quote, trade, and settle digital asset securities the same way they already handle traditional OTC stocks.

• Qualified custody — BitGo Bank and Trust holds assets under federal banking oversight
• Go Network settlement — post-trade token transfers handled by BitGo’s infrastructure
• OTC Link ATS integration — broker-dealers trade through their existing systems
• 150-plus broker-dealers already connected to the platform could gain access

Why Broker-Dealers Matter

Broker-dealers are the connective tissue of traditional finance. They are the firms that stand between buyers and sellers, making markets, providing liquidity, and ensuring trades get executed. When you buy a stock through your brokerage, a broker-dealer is often on the other side making it happen.

Bringing 150-plus broker-dealers into the tokenized securities world is a big deal because it removes one of the biggest bottlenecks in the industry: distribution. Right now, even if a company wants to issue tokenized shares, there are very few regulated intermediaries who can actually sell them to investors. By plugging digital asset trading into OTC Link ATS, suddenly hundreds of broker-dealers could offer tokenized securities to their clients without building any new infrastructure.

The framework is initially designed to support digital asset securities — tokens that represent regulated financial instruments. But the companies noted it could expand to cover tokenized versions of other assets, including commodities, as regulatory frameworks evolve.

The Bigger Picture: Tokenization’s Mainstream Moment

The BitGo-OTC Markets announcement does not exist in a vacuum. It is part of a broader acceleration in the tokenization of real-world assets, where everything from stocks and bonds to real estate and commodities is being represented as blockchain tokens.

Just recently, Securitize and Cantor Fitzgerald announced their own push to bring tokenized initial public offerings to public markets. SoFi tapped BitGo separately to provide infrastructure for a bank-issued stablecoin. And analysts at Bernstein have projected that the value of tokenized real-world assets could reach up to 4 trillion by 2030, driven by adoption across equities, commodities, and other financial instruments.

Bernstein analysts identified tokenization and prediction markets as the next major battleground for exchanges and brokers — meaning traditional financial institutions are increasingly competing to be the ones who facilitate the transition from paper-based securities to blockchain-based ones.

The logic is straightforward. Tokenized securities can settle instantly rather than the traditional two-day settlement cycle for stock trades. They can be fractionalized, letting investors buy small pieces of expensive assets. And they can be programmed with smart contracts that automatically handle dividends, interest payments, and compliance checks.

What This Means For You

If you are a regular investor, this news matters because it could eventually change what you can buy through your existing brokerage account. Imagine being able to purchase a tokenized share of a private company, a fraction of a commercial building, or a piece of a commodity contract — all through the same platform you already use to trade stocks.

That is the long-term vision. In the short term, the BitGo-OTC Markets partnership is aimed at institutional and accredited investors — the firms and wealthy individuals who already trade through broker-dealers on OTC markets. But history shows that when infrastructure gets built for institutions, it eventually trickles down to retail.

There are still hurdles. The partnership is described as a proposed alliance, meaning it still needs to be fully implemented and may face regulatory review. The framework only covers digital asset securities initially, with tokenized commodities and other assets coming later. And the broader market for tokenized securities, while growing, is still in its early stages.

But the direction is clear. The walls between traditional finance and blockchain infrastructure are coming down, piece by piece. When federally chartered trust banks, SEC-regulated trading systems, and established broker-dealers all start aligning on the same infrastructure, the path to mainstream tokenization gets much shorter.

For now, Bitcoin trades near 66,000, Ethereum around 1,949, and Solana near 79 — prices that reflect a market still finding its footing after a volatile period. But infrastructure announcements like this one suggest the foundation being built underneath those prices is getting stronger by the month.

The cryptocurrency market remains highly volatile. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.