Crypto Exchange Bybit Moves From Stock CFDs to Real US Shares

Bybit opened trading in more than 1,000 US-listed stocks and exchange-traded funds today (Monday), with purchases paid in the USDC stablecoin. Orders are executed by Alpaca, a US broker-dealer that also holds the shares in custody, the Dubai-based crypto exchange said.

The product is a step away from the equity derivatives Bybit already sells. It has offered stock contracts for difference (CFDs) on Apple, Tesla and 76 other names since June 2025, while the new service gives clients an economic interest in the underlying securities, according to the release.

London's trading industry is coming home!

TradFi perpetuals have been the fastest-growing segment on crypto exchanges this year. Equity-linked perpetual contracts on those venues reached $141 billion in volume in June, up from $45 billion in May, according to TokenInsight data.

Shares Next to CFDs and Perpetuals

The stock service sits next to two derivatives products. Last month Bybit listed 24/7 FX perpetuals in its crypto derivatives account, while stock CFDs stay on a separate MetaTrader 5 account.

Co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou tied the launch to the "New Financial Platform" plan Bybit set out in January, which added banking and custody to its trading business. The exchange says it has more than 80 million users.

"Stocks are an important part of our evolution into The New Financial Platform," Zhou said.

The service runs through Infra Capital Limited, an introducing broker regulated by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) of Mauritius. Alpaca Securities LLC, a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), handles clearing, settlement and custody.

Clients can buy fractional shares, trade through US pre-market and after-hours sessions and pay no commission on eligible trades, Bybit said. Cash dividends are converted from dollars into USDC and credited to the client's Unified Trading Account. Voting rights are planned for a later phase.

Access is limited to verified clients in permitted jurisdictions. The release did not name them.

Kraken Went to Alpaca in 2025

Kraken turned to Alpaca in April 2025 to execute trades in more than 11,000 US stocks and ETFs for American clients, describing it as a self-clearing broker-dealer.

Kraken's parent Payward and Canadian bank BMO provided $300 million in debt as part of a $435 million financing package for Alpaca in July.

Kraken then opened more than 7,000 US equities to clients in the European Economic Area in August, under a MiFID II authorization held by its Cypriot entity, letting them hold shares and tokenized xStocks in one account.

Ownership Versus Leverage

Not every crypto-native firm thinks traders want to own shares. Kaledora Kiernan-Linn, CEO of onchain derivatives venue Ostium, told FinanceMagnates.com in February that DeFi would disrupt the CFD broker market within five years.

"It's capital efficiency," she said, arguing that traders betting on earnings or macro events do not want to lock up all their capital in shares when derivatives need a fraction of it.

Ostium followed with CFD-style trading in stocks, commodities and FX that runs from clients' own wallets in April, with trades hedged through institutional partners including Jump. Ostium puts the CFD market at $10 trillion in monthly volume.