Monetae has launched Monetae Markets, giving customers in El Salvador access to tokenised US equities and ETFs through Alpaca's infrastructure. The product lets users gain exposure to 70 tokenised US equities and ETFs, with minimum investments starting at $5.
According to Alpaca, it custodies the underlying shares through its infrastructure, while Monetae operates the regulated digital finance platform and customer-facing layer in El Salvador.
Based on the announcement, customers are not opening a standard US brokerage account to buy shares or ETFs directly. Instead, they buy a regulated tokenised product offered by Monetae, with Alpaca providing the US securities infrastructure behind it.
Alpaca Sits Behind the Product
Alpaca does not act as the token issuer or front-end broker for Salvadoran users. The company provides brokerage infrastructure through Alpaca Securities, supporting execution, custody, settlement and movement of the underlying US equities and ETFs.
The setup also uses Alpaca’s OmniSub infrastructure for position management, reconciliation and corporate action processing.
In practice, that means Alpaca can support an omnibus-style model in which it holds and tracks the underlying securities while Monetae manages the tokenised customer product.
Yoshi Yokokawa, Co-Founder and CEO of Alpaca, said the partnership gives customers in El Salvador “a regulated path” to exposure to tokenised US equities and ETFs. At the same time, Alpaca supports the underlying market infrastructure.
Local Distribution, US Market Exposure
The launch places Monetae in the broader market for tokenised US equities, with a local distribution angle.
Kraken has launched xStocks for non-US users, while Ondo Global Markets also offers tokenised US stocks and ETFs to qualified investors outside the United States, including in Latin America.
Monetae is trying to differentiate through a regulated financial platform in El Salvador rather than by offering the widest product list.
The model lets customers access US market exposure without opening an offshore brokerage account, wiring funds to a foreign institution, or using multiple apps, according to Alpaca’s announcement.
Alpaca has used a similar infrastructure role in other regional brokerage launches. Earlier this year, Indonesian broker Valbury launched US stock trading using Alpaca’s Broker API and OmniSub technology.
The key product details remain limited. Monetae and Alpaca did not disclose the full legal structure of the tokenised instruments, the exact investor rights attached to them, or whether token holders receive standard shareholder rights.
Monetae said its initial focus is El Salvador, with the next 12 months used to measure adoption, engagement and operational quality before broader regional expansion.