MetaMask Just Added Tokenized US Stocks – NOT for US Users

On February 3, 2026, MetaMask announced an integration with Ondo Finance that lets eligible users buy, hold, and trade tokenized US stocks, ETFs, and commodities, including Tesla, NVIDIA, Apple, and gold, directly in their self-custodial wallets.

The real question isn’t whether this is interesting. The question is who has access, who is blocked, why, and whether what you’re actually buying is as straightforward as it sounds.

This news came at a good time, as the crypto market has experienced a sizeable pullback over the past five days, with Bitcoin dropping from over $82,000 to below $77,000 and the total crypto market cap shedding over $100Bn in the process.

What Are Tokenized Stocks and What Does Trading Them From a Wallet Actually Mean?

Ondo Finance issues these tokens through its Ondo Global Markets platform as structured products via a British Virgin Islands entity. The underlying securities are held by regulated custodians, but Ondo Global Markets itself operates in an unregulated capacity in the BVI, a detail that raises legitimate questions about investor protections and recourse if the issuer runs into trouble.

In practice, the integration works through MetaMask Swaps: users swap USDC on the Ethereum mainnet for Ondo Global Markets tokens that mirror the value of the underlying security, including dividend exposure net of applicable tax withholdings.

Trading runs 24 hours a day, five days a week, with tokens transferable around the clock. It’s closer to a crypto-native CFD than a brokerage account, which is worth keeping in mind before treating it like a standard stock purchase.

Ondo Finance is not a newcomer here. The company previously launched OUSG, a tokenized BlackRock US Treasuries product, in early 2023 and has since crossed significant TVL milestones.

Ondo also featured in a landmark cross-border tokenized Treasury redemption involving Ripple and JPMorgan, signaling its growing role in institutional Real World Asset infrastructure.

(SOURCE: CoinGecko)

Why US Residents Are Blocked and What the Compliance Architecture Actually Requires

The detail most headlines are missing is that this product was never designed for US users, and that’s not an accident or a temporary gap. It’s a direct consequence of how US securities law works. Ondo’s GM tokens are not registered under the US Securities Act of 1933, so they cannot be legally offered or sold to US persons without a registration exemption. Regulation S, which governs offshore securities offerings, is the framework structuring who can access this product.