In this article, youâll see why tokenized securities are no longer just a side experiment in DeFi, but a direct alternative to the classic brokerage app for many use cases.
Weâll unpack what brokers actually do, what changes when stocks become tokens on TON, compare both models side by side, and look at xStocks on STON.fi as a concrete example of this shift â including where brokers still matter and where they are mostly overhead.
What a traditional broker really is
Strip away the glossy app and a broker is mostly:
- A gatekeeper. You pass KYC/AML, funding checks, regional checks, sometimes investor profile tests.
- A custody layer. Your Apple shares sit in pooled accounts under the broker or its sub-custodian. You see balances on a screen; they hold the assets.
- A rules engine. Trading times, margin rules, day-trading limits, withdrawal policies, tax reporting, local regulatory quirks.
- A fee and spread machine. Explicit commissions, FX markups, payment for order flow, inactivity fees, âcustody feesâ, withdrawal fees, corporate action fees.
You do get value: legal protection in certain jurisdictions, access to regulated markets, tax wrappers in some countries. But you pay for that in time, friction, and loss of control â and the constant fact that your access ultimately depends on changing rules, not just your own decisions.
From a DeFi point of view, the broker stack looks like this:
You â Broker UI â Broker internal ledger â Custodian / market â Maybe your assets somewhere at the bottom
You donât talk to the market. You talk to the brokerâs database.
What changes when securities become referenced by tokens
Tokenized certificates flip the stack:
- A regulated issuer and custodian hold the actual underlying securities
- On-chain tokens reference those securities
- The blockchain becomes the ledger
- Your wallet is your access point and your custody
For xStocks on STON.fi, that looks like:
- Tokenized assets fully backed by real securities held in regulated custody
- Each xStock lives on TON as a jetton
- You access them 24/7 on STON.fi with instant settlement and low fees
- You hold them directly in your TON wallet under your own keys
So the stack becomes:
You â Wallet â TON blockchain â xStocks issuer/custodian backing
No internal broker ledger in the middle. No separate account that can be frozen while someone reviews activity.
Brokers vs tokenized securities: side-by-side
| Dimension | Traditional brokers | Tokenized securities (xStocks on STON.fi) |
| Access | Account opening, KYC/AML, regional restrictions, waiting time | Self-custodial access on STON.fi; you connect a TON wallet and swap from day one |
| Custody | Assets held in omnibus accounts under broker/custodian; broker can freeze or restrict access | Self-custody: xStocks sit in your TON wallet; you control keys and transfers |
| Market hours | Tied to exchange hours, weekends/holidays off | Always-on: xStocks are available 24/7 on STON.fi, independent of exchange schedules |
| Settlement | T+2 (settlement happens two business days after the operation)/ T+1 (settlement happens one business day after the operation), internal ledger delays, withdrawal holds | Instant on-chain settlement; what you see in your wallet is what you own |
| Limits & controls | Deposit / withdrawal limits, ârisk reviewsâ, day-trading rules, margin calls | No broker-imposed trading limits on STON.fi; only smart-contract and liquidity constraints |
| Composability | Stocks live in a siloed app; very limited integrations | xStocks are jettons: can plug into DeFi strategies, pools, and protocols as the ecosystem grows |
| Geography | Access, features, and products vary heavily by country | Same DeFi interface globally (subject to userâs own legal situation and self-responsibility) |
Once securities are wrapped in a compliant product at the issuer level and exported as tokens, many points of friction that brokers call ârequirementsâ become implementation choices rather than hard limits.
The brokerâs role shrinks from a full vertical stack to something closer to an on-ramp and, in some cases, a specialised interface.
Who moves first: the DeFi user
Traditional brokers will not disappear overnight. But for one group they already look outdated: people who live in DeFi day to day.
If you already manage most of your net worth in self-custody, trust smart contracts more than random compliance departments, and think in terms of wallets, not accounts, then xStocks are an obvious default:
- No extra account to open â your TON wallet is the account
- No extra custody layer â your tokens live under the same keys
- No UX context switch â you stay in the same DEX, the same mental model
Instead of juggling a DeFi app for crypto, a broker app for stocks, and another interface for stables, you end up with:
One TON wallet, one protocol, the same environment.
For this user, the question âwhich broker should I pick?â turns into âdo I even need a broker if I can reach stocks on-chain?â.
Case study: xStocks on STON.fi as broker replacement
xStocks on STON.fi crystallize all the messaging pillars youâre pushing.
đ No limits
To swap xStocks on STON.fi you donât fill out forms or wait for approval. You connect your wallet and swap.
đ Self-custody everything
Any your TON-tokens and your xStocks â all are jettons in your wallet.
đ DeFi strategies enabled
Because xStocks are tokens, they are not just static entries in a portfolio. Wherever the TON ecosystem supports them, they can be:
- parts of liquidity pools
- building blocks for structured products
- collateral in on-chain strategies
You canât exactly LP your brokerage Apple shares into a DEX pool with two clicks.
đ Always-on markets
Traditional exchanges close. STON.fi doesnât. If you want to rebalance from a meme coin into a broad equity ETF-style xStock at 01:00 on a Sunday, you donât care about Wall Streetâs opening bell.
For a DeFi-native user, opening a broker account starts to feel like legacy behaviour: still possible, sometimes necessary, but no longer the primary route.
Where brokers still matter (for now)
This isnât a fairy tale where on-chain wins everything instantly. There are still areas where brokers have an edge right now:
- Tax wrappers and retirement accounts
Many jurisdictions give specific tax benefits only through recognized broker or bank accounts (pension plans, ISAs, etc.). Tokenized securities donât slot neatly into those yet. - Fiat on-ramps and off-ramps
You still need bridges between fiat salaries, bank accounts, and the crypto world. Brokers sometimes double as those bridges, especially for fiat-only users. - Regulatory clarity for certain institutions
Funds, corporates, and regulated entities may be required to hold assets at licensed custodians or brokers. They canât just install a TON wallet and call it a day. - Product coverage and edge cases
Complex derivatives, region-specific products, or exotic instruments might exist only in broker land for a while.
So the realistic picture is not tokenized securities erasing brokers, but:
- for DeFi-heavy and globally mobile users, a large part of broker functionality becomes optional,
- for institutions and highly tax-optimised setups, brokers remain central for longer.
Even that shift is significant.
Why the change is quiet
You will not see a single headline one morning announcing that brokers are obsolete. The change is incremental.
What actually happens:
- A user decides itâs easier to hold both a crypto stack and an S&P 500âstyle xStock in one wallet
- A yield farmer starts using xStocks in DeFi strategies instead of keeping âTradFiâ assets in a siloed account
- A user in a messy jurisdiction gets tired of random broker restrictions and routes around them
- People start checking stock exposure on a block explorer, not in a broker statement
At some point, for a meaningful subset of users, the primary representation of their stock exposure lives on-chain. The broker, if it exists at all, becomes a secondary tool.
Risks and constraints you shouldnât ignore
If you want to be intellectually honest, you also point out where tokenized securities carry their own risk stack.
- Issuer and custody risk. You rely on the issuer actually holding the underlying securities and managing them correctly. Thatâs why proof-of-reserves and transparency matter and deserve their own article.
- Smart contract and integration risk. Bugs, oracle failures, misconfigured routes â these are DeFi-native risks brokers donât have in the same form.
- Regulatory evolution. Rules around tokenized RWAs are evolving. The landscape can change, and you donât get the same consumer-protection framing as a retail brokerage in a protected jurisdiction.
- User-side self-custody risk. If you lose control of your keys, you lose control of your xStocks along with every other token in that wallet. There is no support line to restore them.
Wrapping up
The point is not that tokenized securities are always better and brokers are always worse. The point is that once issuance, custody, proof-of-reserves, and smart contracts are implemented properly, within a Web3 industry a broker is no longer technically required as the everyday middleman for access, swapping, custody, and basic portfolio management.
For many users, especially those already living on-chain, it is simply more natural to open one TON wallet, connect to STON.fi, and treat securities as another asset type in the same DeFi stack â rather than maintain a separate, slower, more constrained brokerage world in parallel.
â ď¸ xStocks are not available to citizens or residents of the United States, any EU/EEA member state, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Belgium, or any other jurisdiction where access to tokenized securities or assets is restricted or prohibited.
