The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed changes to the rules for registered transfer agents that would explicitly allow electronic databases, including blockchains, to serve as the official record of securities ownership.
At present, tokenized securities often exist across two parallel systems: an onchain token ledger and an offchain official shareholder register. Those records must be continuously reconciled, which adds operating costs and legal risk. If the proposed rule is approved, a blockchain could serve directly as the primary record for a security, removing the need to maintain a duplicate offchain ownership record.
Proposal would update transfer-agent rules for electronic records and blockchain
SEC Chair Paul Atkins said the reform is intended to make transfer-agent rules fit the development of electronic recordkeeping and blockchain technology.
The change would not make tokenized securities permissionless assets. Issuers and transfer agents would still be required to carry out investor identity verification, transfer restrictions, inheritance-related processes, and shareholder notifications. Under the proposal, blockchain would function mainly as the legally recognized infrastructure for ownership records.
SEC has already outlined a related position
The SEC has previously said that, if federal securities law requirements on record preservation, reporting, and examination are met, registered transfer agents may use distributed ledgers as the official shareholder register without maintaining an additional offchain "digital twin" record.
The rule proposal is now open for 60 days of public comment. If it is ultimately adopted, blockchain would move beyond acting as a technical wrapper for tokenized securities and become part of the infrastructure of the U.S. securities market, clearing a major legal and operational obstacle for putting traditional assets such as stocks and funds onchain.