DEX Orca launches new marketplace for tokenized real-world assets

Orca, one of the biggest decentralized exchanges on Solana, is launching new infrastructure aimed at bringing regulated real-world assets onchain, as crypto firms push deeper into tokenized stocks, commodities and other traditional financial products.

The Solana-based platform said Wednesday it had rolled out “permissioned pools,” a system that allows only approved investors to trade certain tokenized assets. The setup is focused on the U.S. market and is designed for issuers that need to comply with securities laws, including identity checks and investor eligibility requirements.

Streamex, a company focused on tokenizing commodity-based assets, will be the first issuer to use the new system, according to Orca. The company said in a press release shared with CoinDesk that its tokenized gold-linked security, GLDY, will be the first regulated asset to trade through Orca’s new infrastructure.

The launch marks an expansion for Orca beyond pure crypto trading and into infrastructure for tokenized financial assets. This comes as crypto companies increasingly focus on tokenizing traditional financial assets, a market many in the industry see as a major growth opportunity.

Under the new setup, investors must complete know-your-customer (KYC) checks before they can buy, hold or trade regulated tokens. Issuers can also decide who is eligible to access their assets, with Orca’s system automatically enforcing those rules onchain.

The trading pools run on Orca’s existing liquidity infrastructure, while the exchange’s interface will show users whether an asset has restrictions and whether they qualify to trade it.

“Orca has spent five years building the liquidity infrastructure that Solana’s market structure runs on,” said Orca CEO Michael Hwang in a press release. “As tokenized equities, funds and real-world assets arrive onchain at exponential rates, issuers need more than a place to list.”

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