Dinari Brings Tokenized S&P 500 Stocks to U.S. Investors via USDC Wallets

San Mateo-based startup Dinari announced Tuesday that it is launching tokenized shares of the entire S&P 500 index for U.S. investors, enabling stock trading directly through self-custody crypto wallets using Circle’s USDC stablecoin.

The move replaces traditional brokerage accounts with a wallet-based infrastructure designed to execute and settle trades instantly. Under Dinari’s framework, investors hold tokenized shares known as “dShares,” which are backed 1:1 by underlying equities maintained in regulated custody. The digital tokens preserve standard corporate rights, including shareholder voting and dividend payments disbursed natively in USDC. By moving transactions onto blockchain networks, investors can bypass conventional broker lock-in and transfer asset portfolios across compatible decentralized platforms.

The integration targets a bridge between the $300 billion stablecoin sector and the U.S. equity market, which exceeds $60 trillion in value. While traditional financial markets operate under a standard T+1 settlement window—where stock transactions take one business day to finalize—blockchain-backed equities enable immediate finality and continuous asset transferability. According to market data from venture firm a16z crypto, tokenized equities surged approximately 600% to reach $1.7 billion in market capitalization by the end of June. Existing competitors like Securitize and Figure have primarily targeted private debt, money market funds, or niche assets, whereas Dinari’s launch expands broad access to public U.S. equities. Prior to its U.S. debut, Dinari’s platform went live across 85 international jurisdictions and currently supports 6,139 active tokens.

Dinari chief executive officer Gabriel Otte framed the transition as an overhaul of legacy clearing infrastructure. “One day, I’m predicting… the token itself will be the trusted ledger of the stock. The beauty of that is, then we truly own it,” Otte told Fortune. Otte criticized the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), which manages clearing and settlement for nearly all U.S. securities, describing it as a bank-owned “black box” that hampers portfolio mobility and restricts equitable access to capital markets.

Founded in 2021 by Otte—a former Apple software engineer who previously founded Nasdaq-listed cancer diagnostics company Freenome—alongside LegalZoom co-founder Chas Rampenthal and Crunchyroll co-founder Brandon Ooi, Dinari takes its name from the ancient Roman silver coin denarius. Stablecoin issuer Circle declined to comment on the arrangement, citing a quiet period ahead of its upcoming earnings report.