According to BlockBeats, on July 10th, the US SEC issued a statement regarding securities tokenization, stating that blockchain technology has opened up new models for issuing and trading securities in the form of "tokenization". Tokenization has the potential to promote capital formation and enhance investors' ability to use their assets as collateral. Attracted by these possibilities, more and more emerging participants and traditional institutions are actively embracing on chain products. However, despite the great potential of blockchain technology, it does not possess the 'magic' to change the nature of underlying assets. The tokenized securities are still securities. Therefore, market participants must carefully consider and comply with the relevant provisions of federal securities laws when trading such instruments.
Sometimes, issuers tokenize their own securities. Investors who purchase such third-party tokens may face some unique risks, such as counterparty risk. The issuer of tokenized securities must also consider their disclosure obligations under federal securities laws and may refer to recent employee statements issued by the Corporate Finance Department of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
At the same time, market participants who issue, purchase, and trade tokenized securities should also consider the attributes of these securities and the securities law compliance issues they may raise. Although blockchain based tokenization is an emerging technology, the act of issuing financial instruments representing securities rights itself is not novel. Whether issuing such tools on or off chain, the applicable legal requirements are the same. Therefore, market participants should consider communicating with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and its staff when designing their tokenization product plans. We are willing to work with market participants to develop reasonable exemption mechanisms and promote rule modernization.
