• Bitstamp is considering “significant investments” in new markets.
• Binance exchange discontinued support for stock tokens.

FTX US and Bitstamp Ltd., two cryptocurrency exchanges, are looking into providing stock trading in the United States, a move that would enable them to diversify while also entering the area of established financial institutions and popular app providers like Robinhood Markets Inc.

It’s possible FTX US may open stock and option trading in “a couple months,” President Brett Harrison said on Twitter on Tuesday. Stock screening, basic fundamentals like market size and P/E ratios, and portfolio performance monitoring are just a few of the first features intended for equities trading. It has been verified by an FTX US representative that the business is “continuing to look into” future stock and option trading integrations.

Diversifying Revenue Streams

Bitstamp is also considering “significant investments” in new markets like stocks and non-fungible tokens, as well as the benefit of retaining customers on the Bitstamp platform for trading across asset classes, Bobby Zagotta, the CEO of Bitstamp USA Inc., said in an interview. Cryptocurrency exchanges have started diversifying their income streams away from trading.

During the current market sell-off, trading activity at several of the main crypto exchanges has decreased, and some experts predict a “crypto winter” may be on the way. In order to compete with the likes of Robinhood and eToro, which both provide crypto and stock trading, crypto exchanges may want to offer equity trading as well.

Tokenized versions of equities like Apple Inc. and Tesla Inc., which represent the values of the assets they monitor, are traded on certain crypto exchanges, but regulatory opposition has been met with this attempt. In October of last year, Binance Holdings Ltd., the biggest crypto exchange globally, discontinued support for stock tokens.