SEC Targets Outdated Rules for Blockchain-Enabled Securities

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is proposing to modernize rules for registered transfer agents, which have not been significantly updated since the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The proposal aims to bring electronic records and blockchain-based processes into a framework built for a different market.

Transfer agents maintain records showing who owns an issuer's securities and process changes when those securities move between investors. This is particularly relevant in the context of tokenization, where putting a stock onchain is one thing, but establishing who legally owns the share after the token moves is another.