The exchange’s strategic investment cements Centrifuge as the go-to issuance layer for compliant onchain assets, starting with a tokenized S&P 500 product for non-U.S. users.
Coinbase has designated Centrifuge as a Preferred Tokenization Infrastructure platform and made a strategic investment in the firm, the companies announced on Tuesday, deepening a partnership focused on bringing compliant institutional assets onchain through Coinbase’s Base network.
The deal positions Centrifuge as a core tokenization layer for the Coinbase ecosystem, leveraging the protocol’s existing work with clients including Apollo, Janus Henderson, and S&P Dow Jones Indices. Financial terms of the investment were not disclosed.
Centrifuge’s CFG token surged 15% on the news to a $170 million valuation. The token is up 62% over the past 30 days.
“High-quality assets are beginning to move onchain, but access and utility remain constrained,” said Shan Aggarwal, Chief Business Officer at Coinbase, in a press release viewed by The Defiant. “Centrifuge has a strong track record in institutional tokenization, and this collaboration supports Coinbase’s roadmap to expand access to differentiated assets on Base for eligible non-U.S. users.”
$25 Billion Market
The tokenized real-world asset (RWA) market has crossed $25 billion in value, but the bulk of that supply remains gated behind permissioned wallets and siloed on individual chains, leaving most of it unable to interact with mainstream DeFi venues.
That gap has become the central design challenge for the next phase of onchain finance, where issuers like Ondo Finance, Franklin Templeton, and now Centrifuge are competing to build distribution rails that connect regulated assets with permissionless liquidity.
“What matters now isn’t getting assets onchain, it’s getting the right assets onchain in the right way,” said Bhaji Illuminati, CEO of Centrifuge. “Aligning neutral infrastructure with wide access is designed to improve how tokenized markets are built and scaled.”
deRWAs
The collaboration builds on Centrifuge’s recent rollout of deRWAs on Base, a framework for issuing tokenized assets usable in DeFi by eligible non-U.S. participants. The first product under that framework is deSPXA, which offers tokenized exposure to the Anemoy S&P 500 fund (SPXA), built with S&P Dow Jones Indices and managed by Janus Henderson.
deSPXA gives qualifying users 24/7 tradeable exposure to an equity index fund, a structural departure from how traditional index products typically operate.
Centrifuge’s stack handles tokenization, asset management, and onchain composability, allowing asset managers, credit originators, fintechs, and DeFi protocols to launch vaults without building infrastructure from scratch.
Coinbase clarified that it provides neutral blockchain infrastructure only and is not acting as an issuer, broker, exchange, or transfer agent for deSPXA or related tokens.
This article was written with the assistance of AI workflows. All our stories are curated, edited and fact-checked by a human.
