New S-Tokens give retail users indirect exposure to institutional-grade assets on Solana, reflecting DeFi’s push beyond accredited investors. Real-world asset (RWA) protocols Splyce and Chintai have launched a new product on Solana designed to give retail users access to institutional-grade tokenized securities — a move that could broaden the appeal of RWA tokenization on one of the world’s largest blockchains. The product is powered by strategy tokens, or S-Tokens, which provide retail users with exposure to yields generated by Chintai. While users never directly hold Chintai’s tokenized securities, S-Tokens act as a “mirror” through a loan structure backed by the underlying assets. S-Tokens are designed to broaden access to RWA yields beyond institutional investors. Today, most institutional RWA products operate as “walled gardens” with strict capital requirements and compliance hurdles, limiting retail participation, the companies told Cointelegraph. Read more
The partnership allows US investors to hold vaulted gold in self-directed IRAs, providing exposure to regulated DeFi strategies. Gold-backed IRA provider SmartGold is moving $1.6 billion of vaulted assets onchain through a partnership with tokenization platform Chintai Nexus, potentially opening the door to tokenized gold investments through self-directed US Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). Each gold token is backed one-for-one with physical bullion and can be deployed as collateral across decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocols, the companies said Tuesday. The structure works by having investors purchase and store vaulted gold through a SmartGold self-directed IRA. Chintai then tokenizes the holdings, issuing digital representations tied directly to the physical asset. Read more