SEC’s advisory group backs tokenized securities push, outlines how to keep it safe

A committee that advises the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recommended the agency move forward on a tokenized-securities policy that would allow traders to cut out the kind of go-between settlement that Wall Street investment firms have relied on for decades.

The SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee voted Thursday to recommend narrow exemptions for the blockchain-based innovation for the trading of stocks, as long as the activity comes with mandatory disclosures, routine outside supervision and “a requirement that the trading of tokenized equity securities seeks to ensure that all investors receive the best terms for their orders.”

These crypto assets still meet the definition of securities under the law, as SEC Chairman Paul Atkins has regularly contended, which means the activity needs parallel safeguards to the traditional system. Atkins said his agency is working toward formal regulations on tokenization. Now this work has the backing of an official recommendation from the committee, whose members include veterans from major trading firms, institutional investors and academics.

The traditional approach to stock trading features brokers, transfer agents and centralized settlement databases and can take a day or more to execute, but in placing that same stock on-chain, “the delivery of the tokenized security and the payment can happen as a single transaction, with ownership records embedded directly into a single blockchain.”

The group told the commission that the newer approach doesn’t come without risks:

“The most significant risk associated with the tokenization of equity securities is that these reforms or grants of exemptive relief could introduce new risks that investors do not understand and impose higher costs that outweigh the benefits of tokenization,” according to the recommendation document approved by the committee.

In remarks on Thursday, Atkins praised the committee for its “recognition that tokenization can enhance settlement efficiency, reduce settlement risk, and eliminate unnecessary intermediaries.

“I expect the Commission to soon consider an innovation exemption to facilitate limited trading of certain tokenized securities with an eye toward developing a long-term regulatory framework,” he said.