‘Tokenized Securities Are Still Securities’

Crypto Master

US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) member Hester Peirce issued a blanket warning for companies considering distributing and trading tokenized securities.

In a Wednesday statement, Peirce called on companies to discuss their potential tokenized offerings with SEC officials amid “new entrants and many traditional firms […] embracing onchain products.”

Though the SEC commissioner, who also heads the agency’s crypto task force, did not explicitly mention trading platform Robinhood, her notice came roughly two weeks after the company launched a tokenization-focused layer-2 blockchain.

“As powerful as blockchain technology is, it does not have magical abilities to transform the nature of the underlying asset,” said Peirce. “Tokenized securities are still securities. Accordingly, market participants must consider—and adhere to—the federal securities laws when transacting in these instruments.”