Woofun AI reports that Galaxy Head of Research Alex Thorn has raised critical questions regarding the legal architecture behind Coinbase's newly announced tokenized U.S. stocks. While Coinbase unveiled the product during its June 16 System Update, promising full shareholder rights and 1:1 backing for non-U.S. customers, it failed to disclose the specific legal structure supporting these claims. Thorn emphasized that this omission is pivotal, as it dictates regulatory interpretation and the actual extent of user ownership rights.

Thorn outlined two primary models for tokenized equities: issuer-sponsored structures and third-party wrappers. He suggested Coinbase may be utilizing a wrapper model similar to xStocks, where an intermediary holds the underlying shares. This distinction is crucial because 'true equity ownership' could be reduced to contractual rights with an intermediary rather than direct shareholder status. This scrutiny follows recent controversies involving xStocks, where platforms like Bybit and Bitget faced issues delivering underlying assets to users.

Concurrently, the SEC has yet to finalize its proposed innovation exemption for tokenized securities, leaving the regulatory status of third-party wrappers uncertain while the CLARITY Act remains pending in the U.S. Senate.