The Illusion and Reality of Encrypted US Stocks: What Are We Buying?
It seems that overnight, the wall between Crypto and US stocks has been torn down. Bitget, Binance Wallet, Trade_xyz, Ondo Finance… various players are moving US stocks onto the chain.
But we must clarify:
The same "NVDA" (NVIDIA) may represent two completely different entities on different platforms.
After dissection, I have categorized them into three factions. If you don't understand, don't bet easily.
1. Casino Chips: Bitget (Contract Version) and Trade_xyz
This category is essentially "synthetic assets" or "Contracts for Difference (CFD)".
What are you trading?
Air, or rather, a betting agreement.
You are not buying NVIDIA's stock; you are betting on NVIDIA's price movement with the exchange (or on-chain liquidity pool). No real stocks are being purchased on Nasdaq.
Can it pay dividends?
No. Because there are no underlying assets.
Is there tax?
No withholding tax, because there are no real dividends.
Security?
This is a "single-player game". Your risk lies in the exchange pulling the plug, or a code vulnerability in the on-chain protocol (like Trade_xyz).
2. On-Chain Purchasing:
Binance Wallet / Bitget (On-Chain Version): They interface with underlying service providers like Backed Finance or Swarm.
What are you trading?
You are buying a debt right of an offshore shell company (SPV). The logic is: you pay 100U on-chain, and they buy real stock worth 100U in a bank in Switzerland as collateral.
Can it pay dividends?
In principle, yes. But to avoid tax issues related to on-chain payouts, they usually adopt an "automatic reinvestment" model.
Is there tax?
Yes. At the underlying asset level, the US government will first take 30% of the dividend tax, and the remainder will be reinvested to you.
Security?
Higher than contracts because there are real assets.
3. Institutional Trusts: Ondo Finance aims to compliantly move off-chain assets onto the chain.
What are you trading?
You buy shares of a Delaware trust fund. You are recognized as an investor under US law.
Can it pay dividends?
Yes, usually issued in the form of Rebase (increased token supply).
Is there tax?
Extremely strict. Ondo conducts the strictest KYC.
Security?
Assets are custodied by giants like BlackRock, the safest.
