The U.S. SEC issued a statement on tokenized securities, clarifying the classification method and legal scope of application.

PANews reported on January 29 that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a statement providing an official explanation of the classification and legal application of tokenized securities to clarify the applicability of federal securities laws to crypto assets. The statement defines “tokenized securities” as financial instruments that are embodied in the form of cryptoassets and whose ownership record is maintained in whole or in part through a cryptographic network. Its core categories include tokenized securities initiated by the issuer and tokenized securities initiated by third parties.

For tokenized securities initiated by the issuer, the issuer integrates the blockchain into its shareholder roster system so that on-chain asset transfers directly correspond to equity changes. The SEC emphasizes that the form of securities issuance does not affect the application of securities laws, and all offers and sales require registration or exemption. Tokenized securities initiated by third parties are mainly divided into two types of models. One is custodial tokenized securities, in which a third party issues encrypted assets representing underlying securities, and the assets represent the holder's interest in the underlying securities in custody. The second is synthetic tokenized securities, in which third parties issue encrypted assets of their own securities to provide synthetic exposure. Such assets may be linked securities or securities-type swaps. The SEC emphasized that third-party tokenized products may introduce additional counterparties and bankruptcy risks, and in some cases more stringent security-based swap regulatory rules will apply.

The SEC specifically states that the sale of cryptoassets representing security-like swaps to non-qualified contract participants must be registered under securities laws and traded on a national securities exchange. Determining whether a crypto-asset financial instrument is a securities swap should be based on its economic substance rather than its name. The SEC said it is ready to communicate with market participants on relevant issues.

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