SEC Targets 40-Year-Old Market Rules as Stocks Move Onchain

• SEC plans to modernize decades-old transfer agent rules.
• Blockchain records are explicitly covered.
• Tokenized securities remain tied to legal ownership records.
• The proposal now enters public consultation. 

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is turning its attention to one of the less visible parts of Wall Street’s infrastructure as securities begin moving onto blockchains. A proposal released September 1 would overhaul rules for registered transfer agents that have not been substantively updated since the late 1970s and early 1980s, bringing electronic records and blockchain-based processes into a framework built for a very different market.

Transfer agents maintain records showing who owns an issuer’s securities and process changes when those securities move between investors. That makes them increasingly relevant to tokenization: putting a stock onchain is one thing, but establishing who legally owns the share after the token moves is another.

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins explicitly linked the proposal to that transition, saying the revised rules would reflect current practices including electronic communications and “blockchain technology” used in securities offerings and share transfers.

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