Alpaca’s Vision for a “Global Financial OS” | Co-Founder Hitoshi Harada on the Story Behind Tokenized Stocks

Note: This article was translated from Japanese by Alpaca. Read the original interview by CoinPost.

Alpaca, a brokerage infrastructure company founded in the US by Yoshi Yokokawa and Hitoshi Harada, raised $150 million USD in January 2026, reaching a unicorn valuation of $1.15 BN USD. 

Providing brokerage infrastructure APIs to more than 300 financial institutions across 40 countries, Alpaca commands an estimated 94% global market share in tokenized US equities. Through partnerships with major projects such as Ondo Finance and xStocks (Kraken), the company is rapidly strengthening its presence as critical infrastructure connecting traditional finance (TradFi) and on-chain finance.

CoinPost spoke with Hitoshi Harada, Alpaca’s Co-Founder, Chief Technology Officer, and Chief Product Officer, about bridging TradFi and on-chain finance, the innovation behind Alpaca’s Instant Tokenization Network (ITN), its outlook for the Japanese market, and its long-term vision as a global financial infrastructure provider.

Hitoshi Harada studied computer science and financial engineering at Keio University and served as CTO of Forcia from 2006 to 2011. He contributed to the development of the globally adopted database software PostgreSQL and later led core architecture design for big data and distributed systems at US-based Pivotal.

Alpaca as a Bridge Between TradFi and On-chain Finance

CoinPost: Alpaca has grown rapidly by providing API-first brokerage infrastructure under the vision of making financial services easily accessible to anyone. How do you position Alpaca’s role as a bridge between traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi)?

Hitoshi: This is the core of our mission. The crypto and on-chain space has long been driven by vague concepts, but what truly matters now is upgrading real-world assets (RWAs) in a practical way.

Equities, particularly US stocks, were the most natural starting point, and momentum has really picked up over the past year. That said, tokenizing RWAs requires proper management of the underlying assets. Equities are especially complex: corporate actions such as stock splits, dividends, and other events occur regularly and must be handled correctly.

When you bring assets that underpin the US capital markets into a decentralized environment, existing crypto-native approaches simply don’t work. Regulatory requirements, AML, and operational controls must all be addressed. Someone needs to clearly define what can be handled within traditional frameworks, and then realistically connect that to what can be achieved in a blockchain-based setting.

Alpaca understands both TradFi and the digital asset economy. We saw this convergence coming three to four years ago and spent that time thinking through what kind of infrastructure would be needed. Now, it feels like the timing has finally aligned.

Instant Tokenization Network (ITN) and Liquidity Enhancement

CoinPost: The Instant Tokenization Network (ITN) has drawn attention as an infrastructure that enables institutional investors to tokenize equities around the clock. How does ITN contribute to improving liquidity in the tokenized equities market?

Hitoshi: As a starting point, liquidity is essential for real-world asset (RWA) tokenization to gain traction, yet only a handful of players have been able to provide it effectively so far.

The tokenization of equities has gained momentum precisely because the underlying spot markets are already deep and liquid. Price discovery is well established, so you can rely on it. If you start tokenization from scratch with other asset classes, you immediately run into the question of who will make the market. With stocks, that problem largely disappears. The liquidity and price discovery already exist. In that sense, they resemble stablecoins backed one-to-one by real assets.

This creates arbitrage opportunities. In the traditional equity market, pricing is tightly regulated, for example, in the US, rules like NBBO limit spreads. On the crypto side, however, trades can still occur even with wider spreads. Say you buy Tesla shares at USD 100 on the stock market, while the tokenized version is trading at USD 101 on a crypto exchange. You can buy at 100 and sell at 101. ITN enables this swap to happen instantly.

Once that’s possible, market makers can profit from arbitrage, which in turn helps keep token prices closely pegged to the underlying assets. It’s not just about injecting capital; this mechanism is what stabilizes prices. Lessons from failed stablecoins like UST have shown how critical it is to have a structure that can maintain the peg. As long as there are participants with economic incentives to correct price discrepancies, price formation holds. That’s what ultimately builds trust and makes these assets usable at scale.

CoinPost: How fast does the tokenization process actually happen in practice?

Hitoshi: Conceptually, you buy shares in the traditional securities market, and within seconds, the tokenized version is delivered to your wallet. The flow is straightforward: equities are deposited with Alpaca, converted into tokens, and then sent to a pre-registered wallet address.

Alpaca provides this globally in compliance with local regulations. As a US-licensed broker-dealer, we first onboard clients through standard brokerage accounts. Customers then deposit US dollars and purchase shares. When an API call is made to tokenize those shares, the tokens are issued and delivered to the registered wallet address almost immediately.

Gaining Market Share in the Tokenized Equities Market

CoinPost: Alpaca has captured a 94% share of the market for tokenized US equities and ETFs. What factors enabled you to build such a strong lead? And how have partnerships with major projects like Ondo Finance and Kraken shaped the broader ecosystem?

Hitoshi: Alpaca has been preparing for this shift from the very beginning. We knew this convergence was coming and invested early in building crypto-related products with that future in mind.

Three factors came together. First, on the TradFi side, we operate a full self-clearing model. Second, we had already built the capability to process crypto transactions and use stablecoins on the same platform to purchase underlying equities. Third, our systems are designed for real-time processing and flexible API-based integration.

When you put all of that together, there really wasn’t anyone else offering the same stack. When demand emerged, it became a simple decision: “Alpaca could do it, others couldn’t.” That naturally led to our position today.

In terms of ecosystem impact, I think many of these initiatives would have been hard to realize without a stack like Alpaca’s. When new ideas emerged, partners could move from concept to execution in a matter of months, and that speed was only possible because the underlying infrastructure was already in place.

CoinPost: How do you view the tokenization of RWAs beyond US equities, such as real estate or bonds?

Hitoshi: Fixed income is certainly a viable category. Ondo Finance, for example, has been tokenizing US Treasuries for some time. That said, in terms of mindshare and retail investor interest, equities still attract far more attention.

Real estate tokenization is also gaining traction, including in Japan. In places like the United Arab Emirates, governments are actively promoting real estate tokenization as part of their national strategy. Saudi Arabia is moving in a similar direction, particularly around tokenizing *sukuk* (Islamic bonds). These are likely the next wave after US equities.

There are also more experimental use cases emerging. One startup in Turkey is looking to tokenize bank credit limits, essentially receivables tied to post-dated checks, turning paper-based claims into digital tokens that can be fractionalized and used as a means of payment. In another scenario, real estate owners could tokenize future rental income and use those tokens to purchase tokenized equities. That’s when you really start to see a true token economy take shape.

Outlook for the Japanese Market

CoinPost: Alpaca also operates through its Japanese subsidiary. How do you see the potential for RWA tokenization and the broader Web3 space in the Japanese market?

Hitoshi: From a business perspective, Japan is an important market for Alpaca, both for US equity brokerage and for digital asset–related businesses. Talent is another key factor. While many international professionals are interested in working in Japan, there are relatively few roles that truly meet their expectations. Companies like Alpaca, which hire globally on a fully remote basis, can be very attractive, and Japan is already one of our talent hubs.

Personally, I hope we move toward a truly borderless world. For Japan in particular, it’s important to avoid becoming isolated. The way “Web3” is sometimes discussed domestically can be risky. Trying to solve everything within Japan, by Japanese stakeholders alone, doesn’t work in a global system.

Take the debate around 24-hour equity trading. The key question isn’t how Japan’s market should operate in isolation, but how it connects smoothly to global flows that are constantly moving in and out. Alpaca wants to contribute by sharing information and global perspectives, including the recent developments related to DTCC. Japan shouldn’t end up with systems that work only domestically and are unusable elsewhere.

CoinPost: What specific strengths does Alpaca have when it comes to expanding its business in the Japanese market?

Hitoshi: Japan holds a vast pool of assets. We’re starting to seriously think about a world where products that were previously accessible only to institutional investors, such as private funds, can be tokenized, fractionalized, and purchased not just in Japan, but even by a university student in Indonesia.

There’s a lot Alpaca can do on the distribution side to make that possible. Being able to conduct business in Japanese is also a real advantage in this market. Rather than waiting for things to happen, we want to actively engage, go into the market, have direct conversations, and create new business opportunities on the ground.

Looking Ahead: Toward a Global Financial Operating System

CoinPost: Alpaca has grown into a unicorn company. Looking ahead five to ten years, what is your vision for the ultimate form of global financial infrastructure that Alpaca aims to build?

Hitoshi: Internally, I often describe our ambition as becoming an ‘operating system” like Windows or Android.

Before Windows, hardware came from different manufacturers, each with its own specifications. Windows abstracted all of that. As long as you build on the same SDK, the software will run the same way on a Toshiba PC or an NEC PC. Nothing like that exists in global finance yet. Regulations differ between the UK and Japan, and vendors exist in both markets, but the infrastructure isn’t portable.

If Alpaca’s infrastructure becomes that abstraction layer, expansion would move much faster. A fintech company overseas could simply say, “Let’s launch in Japan,” or “Let’s expand into Africa,” and those decisions could be executed far more quickly. When new fintech ideas emerge, they could be tested rapidly and with minimal capital. Instead of spending enormous time securing licenses and preparing regulatory capital, teams could build an app from a single idea and launch it wherever demand exists.

Looking further ahead, today’s focus is on tokenizing already-listed public equities. But eventually, the question becomes: ”Why do companies need to list on traditional stock exchanges at all?” Some public companies are already considering issuing a portion of their shares directly on-chain. If disclosure, transparency, and trust can be established natively on-chain, it’s not inconceivable that we might question the relevance of a traditional IPO and choose to issue directly on-chain.

Even in that world, brokers remain essential. Someone has to handle settlement across multiple chains, provide leverage, and underwrite trust. That is the broker’s core function. Firms that cling to the old models of the past 10 or 20 years may be left behind, but Alpaca intends to keep pushing forward. That’s our vision for the next five to ten years.

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About Alpaca

Alpaca is a US-headquartered, self-clearing broker-dealer and a global leader in brokerage infrastructure APIs providing access to stocks, ETFs, options, fixed income, and crypto. Alpaca delivers embeddable finance solutions for tokenization, fully paid securities lending, high-yield cash, 24/5 trading, Shariah-compliant investing and more. Today, Alpaca powers over 9 million brokerage accounts across hundreds of fintechs and institutions in 40+ countries with over $320M in funding.

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