Bitget haslaunched Stock+, a feature that lets users buy shares in US-listed companiesusing USDC and other digital assets, the cryptocurrency exchange said today (Monday).The productroutes orders through regulated US brokers and gives holders direct ownershipof the underlying shares rather than synthetic or derivative exposure,according to the company.The launchsits inside Bitget's Stocks 2.0 ecosystem and extends a push to let customersmove between crypto and equities inside one account. It arrivesduring a broader scramble among trading venues to fold tokenized and traditional stocktrading intocrypto platforms.How Stock+ WorksUsers fundtheir accounts with digital assets, convert them into USDC, and buy listedshares from there, the company said. Trades are executed through brokersincluding RQD Clearing and Atomic Vaults Securities, with holders eligible forcash dividends and stock split adjustments.Tradinghours follow US pre-market, regular, and after-hours sessions. Bitget saidStock+ also supports inbound transfers from participating brokers, lettingusers consolidate existing US equity holdings on the platform."Accessis important, but ownership matters too," CEO Gracy Chen said in astatement.Promotionallaunch fees start from 0.1%, with a 50% discount running through Aug. 31, thecompany said. The discount is a marketing offer tied to the rollout.A Step Beyond Bitget's OwnTokenized StocksThe featuremarks a shift from a model Bitget introduced only weeks earlier. In early June,the exchange launched Reality, which it describes as a regulated real-worldasset protocol, alongside rToken, its own tokenized stocks.Bitget saysit has listed more than 500 US stocks and exchange-traded funds through thatprogram, including SpaceX, Tesla and NVIDIA, with rToken assets undermanagement above $50 million. Those figures are self-reported and have not beenindependently verified.rTokengives users tokenized exposure to equities. Stock+ instead aims to place realshares in customer hands through the broker arrangement, a distinction Bitgetput at the center of its announcement. Exchanges Race to MergeCrypto and EquitiesBitget isentering a crowded field where the line between crypto venues and stockexchanges keeps thinning. Coinbase hasasked the SEC for approval to offer tokenized stock trading, while Kraken hassought regulatory clearance for a 24/7 tokenized equity platform.Traditionalvenues are moving too. The SEC approved aNasdaq pilot allowingtokenized stock trading, and newcomer 24X NationalExchange filed totrade tokenized equities on an already approved exchange. Consumerroutes are opening as well, with xStocksplacing tokenized US equities inside a Telegram wallet.Most ofthose efforts wrap equities in tokens. Stock+ takes the opposite path bysettling real shares through US brokers. That sidesteps some of the regulatoryquestions tokenization still faces, but it also ties the product toconventional clearing pipes rather than blockchain rails.What Bitget Did NotDiscloseBitgetdescribes itself as the world's largest Universal Exchange, a label it has notbenchmarked against named rivals. The company did not specify whichjurisdictions can access Stock+, the full broker lineup, or how custody of theunderlying shares is structured.Becausesettlement runs through RQD Clearing and Atomic Vaults Securities, theownership claims rest on those broker relationships rather than on the exchangeitself. How cryptoplatforms split responsibility with licensed brokers has become a recurringquestion as the industry rethinks theboundaries of market access and hours through tokenization and round-the-clocktrading.This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.