Four of seven stock-token issuers can take tokens from any wallet within minutes. Coinbase and PreStocks have both used that power
A tokenized share sits in the buyer's own wallet, but the issuer keeps keys of its own. We read every one of those keys on six chains and went through the record of what each issuer did with them.
- 4 of 7
- $750M
- 25 cents
- 32
In September 2025 PreStocks' multisig moved tokens out of 32 accounts it does not own, with no owner signing. Tokens from 27 open limit orders went to the address each order named, and tokens from three ordinary wallets went into PreStocks' own vault. The other two accounts belonged to other programs.
- 2,684
- Terms and code
01 · What a holder seesThe token is in your wallet. The issuer has a key too
Buy a tokenized NVIDIA share on Robinhood's own blockchain and it lands in your wallet. You can send it to a friend, sell it to another trader or lend it out. Nobody has to approve any of that.
The company that issued it can still reach into that wallet. One key that Robinhood holds can burn any holder's NVIDIA token. The token's code does not ask for the holder's signature, and the key does not have to wait.
We read who holds that kind of power over the tokenized stocks of seven issuers: Robinhood, Binance, xStocks, Ondo Global Markets, Coinbase, Backpack and PreStocks, which sells tokens of private companies before they list. On 4 November we tested each power. On Ethereum-style chains we simulated the call from the key that holds it, and on Solana we read each token's settings and its multisig. Four of the seven can take tokens out of any wallet within minutes. The tokens they can take that way were worth $750M at the 30 October close, 23% of the $3.25B for all seven. The record shows two of the four using that power. Coinbase took 25 cents of tokens from two wallets in October 2026. PreStocks moved tokens out of 32 accounts it does not own in September 2025.
02 · How they workA share at the issuer, a token in your wallet
A tokenized stock is a token whose price follows one share of a listed company. PreStocks' tokens follow shares of private companies instead. The issuer, or a custodian it hires, holds the real share. The buyer holds the token. Some issuers pay dividends by raising each holder's balance, so over time one token can stand for a little more than one share. Our count of the whole market put it at $3.2 billion on 31 October.
The token is a program on a public chain, and the issuer writes its rules. Every issuer we checked kept some control over what it sold. Their own documents give the reasons: a court order, a sanctions list, a hack, a transfer to someone not allowed to hold the token, a share that stops trading. The code does not check the reason. For a holder, three things decide how far that control reaches: who holds the key, how many people must sign, and how long the code makes them wait.
03 · Five powersFive things an issuer can do to tokens in your wallet
Each issuer keeps some mix of five powers.
- Freeze. Stop one wallet from sending, or from receiving. On Ethereum-style chains this is usually a blocklist the token checks on every transfer. On Solana each token names a freeze authority, a key that can freeze any single token account.
- Burn or move from any wallet. Destroy tokens in a wallet, or move them somewhere else, without the holder signing. On Solana this is a token setting called a permanent delegate. On other chains it is a function, such as a burn that takes any address, that only one role may call.
- Pause. Stop every transfer of a token at once.
- Mint. Create new tokens.
- Upgrade. Change the token's code, which can add any of the powers above.
A key can be one person's wallet. It can also be a multisig, a shared account that needs a set number of its members to sign, written as 2 of 3. Some issuers add a timelock, which forces a wait between ordering a change and carrying it out. The figure below shows the three paths we found.
04 · Who can do it nowFour issuers can take tokens within minutes
We sorted the seven issuers by what their keys can do today, without new code and without a wait. Four can take tokens from any wallet. Backpack's tokens carry the same Solana setting, but we could not see who can trigger it. Ondo needs a 2-hour wait first. Binance would need new code.
Robinhood. Its tokens on Robinhood Chain have a burn function that takes any address. Thirteen roles run them. Each role has one key, except mint and burn: since 22 October a contract deployed on 6 October holds those too. Robinhood's older EU tokens on Arbitrum have no such burn, and all of them sit in one wallet Robinhood holds for its EU customers.
xStocks. Its tokens on Solana carry a permanent delegate. A 2-of-3 multisig controls it, with no timelock. That is a different multisig from the 2-of-4 one that can freeze and pause them, and the two share no members. On Ethereum, BNB Chain and Arbitrum the burn works only on the issuer's own holdings, but a 2-of-3 multisig can replace the code at once.
PreStocks. One multisig holds every control of its tokens, delegate included. It needs 2 of its 7 members to sign; 5 of the 7 may vote. The multisig acts through its own account, called its vault. We covered its transfer fee on the OpenAI and Anthropic tokens in October. The multisig used the delegate to move tokens out of accounts it does not own in September 2025.
Coinbase. Its stock tokens run on Base's own standard, called B20. A Base network upgrade added a seize function to every B20 token. One Coinbase key holds the admin role on all 271 Coinbase stock tokens and runs the list of wallets the seize function can reach. With that key alone Coinbase can block a wallet, give itself the seize role and move the holder's balance. It did all three on 5 October 2026.
Backpack. Its tokens on Solana also carry such a delegate, but the delegate belongs to Backpack's own program. That program's interface is not published on chain, so we could not see who can make it use the delegate. A 3-of-6 multisig can upgrade the program with no wait.
Ondo. Its tokens on Ethereum and BNB Chain have a burn function that no one is allowed to call. Granting that right takes a 4-of-7 multisig, a 2-hour timelock and one more key to carry it out. On Solana its tokens have no delegate, and one cannot be added later.
Binance. Its bStocks have no function that burns or moves another wallet's balance. Adding one takes a code upgrade, and one key can make it.
05 · What sits under the power$750 million in 441,000 wallets
The tokens the four issuers can take within minutes were worth $750M at the 30 October close. They sat in 441,000 wallets holding at least $1 each, and 40,000 of those held $100 or more. We count wallets per chain, so a person with wallets on two chains counts twice, and a DEX pool counts once however many traders use it.
The largest pile, Binance's $1.31B of bStocks, sits outside that group. Of those bStocks, 88% sit in five wallets Binance runs for its exchange users. Taking any of them would need new code, which one key can install. $932M of Ondo's $957M is behind a 4-of-7 multisig and a 2-hour wait.
06 · When it was usedCoinbase took 25 cents, and PreStocks moved tokens from 32 accounts
Coinbase. Coinbase minted 483 DraftKings tokens, DKNGc, on 29 September 2026, and they began trading on chain. The next afternoon Coinbase paused the token. Twenty minutes later it lifted the pause for 12 minutes while most of the supply came back and was redeemed, then paused it again. Two wallets were left holding DKNGc: a trader's wallet with 0.0129 tokens, and a contract holding less than a millionth of a token.
On 5 October, between 17:38 and 18:52 UTC, Coinbase's admin key linked a seize list created on 2 October to 87 Coinbase stock tokens, DKNGc among them. At 18:01 it put both wallets on that list, which had been empty since it was created. Over the next 8 minutes the same key gave itself the seize role, moved both balances to its own address, burned them and handed back every role it had taken. Then it took both wallets off the list. Both seizes carry the same note on chain: "DKNGc clear balances 20261002".
The 0.0129 DKNGc were worth 25 cents at DraftKings' 5 October close of $19.60. No wallet holds DKNGc now. Coinbase's prospectus allows holdings to be canceled or frozen to enforce its transfer rules, "in each case with or without payment". The same key used an older version of this path once before, on 4 August, on a test token.
Every Coinbase stock token is now linked to that seize list, and the same single key is admin on every one of them.
PreStocks. On 17 and 19 September 2025, PreStocks' multisig used its delegate to move tokens out of 32 accounts it does not own. The owners of those accounts did not sign. Members of the multisig signed every move, and no move states a reason. The moves carried tokens worth $6,286 at the 30 October DEX price.
- 27 came out of open orders held by a limit-order program on Solana. Each went to the address named in its order, which we take to be the wallet that placed it.
- Two came out of accounts that two other programs hold, and went to other wallets.
- Three came out of ordinary wallets and went into PreStocks' own vault: 0.77 xAI tokens and 0.002 of a SpaceX token, worth $65 at the 30 October DEX price.
The three wallets had received those tokens earlier that morning, all from one wallet. Between 01:11 and 07:34 UTC, PreStocks' vault had sent that wallet 4,500 USDC and stock tokens, xAI among them. From two of the three wallets, the vault then moved exactly half of the xAI tokens each had received into itself. The record does not show who controls the three wallets or the wallet that funded them.
07 · What the record shows2,871 addresses are blocked for Coinbase's tokens and 2,673 for bStocks
No other issuer's record that we read shows a burn or move from an account it does not own. Backpack's record was checked by sample only. On Ethereum-style chains, no key at xStocks, Ondo or Binance, or on Robinhood's EU tokens, can do it without new code or a wait. Most of the activity is blocklists. Wallets that Robinhood blocked, and wallets on the list Coinbase's tokens check, hold none of those tokens.
Binance checks every bStocks transfer against a sanctions list it runs. The first 1,913 addresses went on the list on 27 May, and none of those wallets holds bStocks. Of the wallets added since, 593 hold bStocks worth $30,945 that they cannot move, and only 34 of them hold $100 or more. On 3 November Binance added the main receiving wallet from the 29 October Binance hack.
| Issuer | What its record shows, to 4 November |
|---|---|
| Coinbase | One take: 0.0129 DKNGc from two wallets on 5 October 2026. The shared blocklist its tokens check held 2,871 addresses on 4 November, 2,364 of them added on 2 and 3 November. None of them holds a Coinbase stock token. |
| Robinhood | 74,698 burns since June: 74,690 from its own redemption wallet, 6 from the balance of a contract that holds its mint and burn roles and 2 from a dead address. None from a holder. 178 addresses blocked, 175 still blocked, none holding its tokens. Every token paused for about a minute on 30 June. |
| Binance | 2,684 addresses added to its sanctions list and 11 removed; 593 listed wallets hold $30,945 of bStocks. Never paused. No code change since deployment on 28 May. |
| xStocks | Never froze an account, paused a token or used its Solana delegate. Its 2-of-3 multisig replaced the code on Ethereum 284 times, November 2025 to July 2026. |
| Ondo | Never paused a stock token. Its pause keys switch the factories that create new tokens off between launches. |
| PreStocks | 32 moves out of accounts it does not own, on 17 and 19 September 2025. Its other 455 delegate moves and all 12 delegate burns were from its own accounts. Fees swept 156 times. |
| Backpack | 192,550 burns by its program. In a random sample of 224, the owner signed every one; the rest were not decoded. |
08 · What the issuers' terms sayThe documents list reasons that the code never checks
Each issuer's own documents say when it may freeze holdings or take them back. We read the prospectus, terms or help pages for all seven.
| Issuer | When it says it may freeze or take back tokens |
|---|---|
| Robinhood | A sanctions event, a court or regulator, a redemption, or what its prospectus calls the updating function. |
| Binance | Holdings by someone not allowed to hold them, AML or sanctions, an order from a court or authority recognized in Abu Dhabi Global Market, or a hack. |
| xStocks | Its prospectus lists no freeze. It says the issuer burns only tokens it holds itself, and that a wider power could come only in a future update, used only under a court or regulator's order. |
| Ondo | A transfer found to be prohibited after it settled, an order from a court or authority recognized in the British Virgin Islands, or a hack. |
| Coinbase | Law, sanctions and compliance, or a risk to the issuer's reputation. Holdings may be canceled or frozen "with or without payment", its prospectus says. |
| Backpack | At its discretion, including when it suspects a breach of its rules. Notice is optional. |
| PreStocks | At any time. Its terms allow a forced redemption at a value that may be "in some circumstances nil". |
The gap is widest at xStocks. Its prospectus lists minting, burning, relay, pausing and updating as the contract's functions, and says the issuer will burn only what it holds itself. A freeze, it says, could come only in a future update, and could be used only if a court or regulator compels it. On Solana, xStocks' tokens carry a freeze authority and a permanent delegate today. The prospectus does not mention either.
09 · Checking a token yourselfThe settings are public
Every setting behind these powers can be read from the chain, except who can trigger Backpack's program. On Solana, a token's freeze authority and any permanent delegate are listed in its settings in any block explorer. On Ethereum, BNB Chain, Base and Robinhood Chain, the roles a token grants can be read from its contract. Bitquery's smart contract API returns the calls and events behind role changes, blocklist entries and burns on Ethereum-style chains, and its token holder API lists who holds each token.
10 · How we checkedMethod
We read each power on chain on 4 November 2026, from 09:00 to 11:00 UTC. On Ethereum, BNB Chain, Base, Arbitrum and Robinhood Chain we listed each role's holders and simulated every power from the key that holds it, with a random address as a control. On Solana we read the settings of every stock token of the four Solana issuers (2,100 tokens) and each multisig's threshold, members and timelock. The event record comes from Bitquery's full history for Ethereum, BNB Chain, Base and Robinhood Chain, from the chains' own nodes, and on Solana from the multisigs' full proposal history plus decoded transactions. For PreStocks we decoded every transaction its vault signed. The full history behind this record is also sold as files in the Data Store, for Solana, Robinhood Chain, Base, BNB Chain, Ethereum and Arbitrum.
Dollar values are each token's supply outside the issuer's own wallets times the 30 October close, the same figures as our market count, which used Yahoo Finance closes. PreStocks has no listed share price, so we used its tokens' 30 October trade price on Solana DEXs. Wallet counts use each wallet's latest balance, with the issuer's own wallets removed.
The same checks can be run with the Bitquery MCP.
11 · The recordKeys, tokens and transactions behind this story
| What | Address or transaction |
|---|---|
| Robinhood burn key | 0x6e40…d8c1 |
| Robinhood redemptions | 0xa855…3c74 |
| Contract with burn role | 0x1364…9c08 |
| Robinhood roles | 0xe10b…1b00 |
| xStocks delegate | 5aMNNL…FvEq |
| xStocks 2-of-3 | Dsm8Dm…raot |
| xStocks 2-of-4 | 8gep9m…iu8X |
| PreStocks vault (2 of 7) | WV9PJN…i5Wc |
| Move from a wallet, 1 | 2GpUkW…VKkF |
| Move from a wallet, 2 | Q8JzC9…zNAk |
| Move from a wallet, 3 | awaXNf…Rw5F |
| Backpack delegate | 2cVYpa…af4a |
| Backpack program | FewRXX…tbVH |
| Coinbase admin key | 0x3846…72b1 |
| DKNGc | 0xb200…8a41 |
| Seize 1, 18:02 | 0x2431…88e8 |
| Seize 2, 18:03 | 0x3854…3a6a |
| Ondo timelock | 0x3715…34f1 |
| Binance bStocks list | 0x53db…14f4 |
| Binance upgrade key | 0x4333…8d0c |
FAQ
Can a tokenized stock be frozen?
Yes. Six of the seven issuers we checked can freeze a wallet with keys they hold now. Backpack's freeze setting sits with its own program, like its delegate, so we could not see who can use it. xStocks can freeze on Solana. On Ethereum, its tokens check an outside sanctions list that xStocks does not run. Binance's sanctions list for its bStocks held 2,673 addresses on 4 November.
Can an issuer take tokenized stocks out of my wallet?
Four issuers can do it within minutes: Robinhood on Robinhood Chain, xStocks on Solana, PreStocks and Coinbase. Backpack's tokens carry the same Solana setting, but its program decides who can use it. Ondo needs a 2-hour wait, and Binance would need new code.
Has any issuer taken tokens from a holder?
Yes. Two issuers have, in the records we read. On 5 October 2026 Coinbase took 0.0129 of its DraftKings token, worth 25 cents, out of two wallets and burned it. Coinbase had paused the token five days earlier. In September 2025 PreStocks moved tokens out of 32 accounts it does not own. Most came out of open orders and went to the address each order named. Tokens from three ordinary wallets went into PreStocks' own vault.
What is a permanent delegate on Solana?
It is a setting on a Solana token that names one address able to move or burn that token in any account, without the account owner's signature. The setting can only be added when the token is created, but the address that holds it can pass it on. xStocks, Backpack and PreStocks tokens have one. Ondo's do not.
Does Robinhood burn holders' tokens?
Not in the record so far. Robinhood's keys made 74,698 burns since June, all from Robinhood's redemption wallet, a dead address or a contract that holds its burn role. One key can burn any holder's tokens, and the code would not stop it.
Are tokenized stocks safe to keep in your own wallet?
A wallet protects tokens from strangers. The issuer's keys still reach them. Four of the seven issuers we checked hold keys that can take tokens out of any wallet within minutes, and six can freeze one. What protects a holder is how the issuer uses those keys, which its terms describe and the chain records.
Are tokenized stocks the same as owning the share?
No. The issuer or its custodian holds the share. The holder has a token whose rules the issuer wrote, and those rules include the controls described here.
Powers were read from the chains between 09:00 and 11:00 UTC on 4 November 2026. Issuers can change roles, members and settings at any time, so check a token before relying on any line here.
We call a power usable within minutes when keys that exist now can use it with no code change and no timelock. Coinbase's path needs three transactions from one key, now that every Coinbase stock token is linked to the seize list. On 5 October 2026 the key blocked both wallets, gave itself the seize role and seized both balances, worth 25 cents, in under two minutes, from 18:01:37 to 18:03:23 UTC. The 15 transactions from block to unblock took 8 minutes; the key had linked the list to DKNGc seven minutes before the block.
PreStocks' September 2025 moves carry no stated reason on chain. That each limit order's tokens went to the wallet that placed it is inferred from the address stored in the order. Who controls the three wallets PreStocks moved tokens from, and the wallet that funded them, is not visible on chain. The xAI token's 30 October price rests on three trades worth $7.61 in all, so the dollar values of these moves are rough.
Backpack's program interface is not published on chain. Its 192,550 program burns were checked by a random sample of 224; the rest were not decoded.
Dollar values are supply outside the issuer's own wallets at the 30 October close, as in our market count, plus PreStocks at its 30 October DEX price, measured from 08:49 to 24:00 UTC that day. PreStocks' September 2025 moves use that same 30 October price. Exchange wallets that hold stock for their users count as one wallet each.
Wallet counts cover the 80 largest tokens of each issuer on Ethereum-style chains, which hold 92% or more of each issuer's value there, and every priced token on Solana. Wallets are counted per chain.
Totals include xStocks' tokens on Optimism, worth $157, where we tested no keys.
The event record runs to 4 November 2026. What the issuers say is taken from their prospectuses, terms and help pages as they stood on 4 November 2026.
This article is provided for informational and educational purposes only and reflects analysis of publicly available on-chain data as of the dates indicated. It does not constitute legal, financial, compliance, or investment advice, and nothing in it is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any token or asset.
The findings describe token settings, roles, transfers and events observed on public blockchains up to 4 November 2026. They may be incomplete or incorrect and may be revised as more data becomes available.
References to Robinhood, Binance, xStocks, Backed, Ondo, Coinbase, Backpack, PreStocks or any listed company describe what the public record shows about tokens and keys and about documents those companies have published. A power that a key holds is not a claim that it has been or will be misused. Nothing here asserts that any party acted unlawfully or failed to disclose anything it was required to.
Nothing herein should be relied upon as a definitive determination of fact. Readers should conduct their own independent verification before taking any action. The authors and publisher accept no liability for any loss or damage arising from reliance on this material. All trademarks and company names are the property of their respective owners.
Reported by Gaurav Agarwal for Bitquery Research, with AI tools; every figure was checked against the raw data.
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