SEC Plans to update transfer agent rules, focusing on on-chain equity registration and avoiding a “new paper crisis”
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AT A GLANCE
SEC The transfer agent rules may be revised to incorporate blockchain into the securities registration and settlement system.
Article
SEC Plans to update transfer agent rules, focusing on on-chain equity registration and avoiding a “new paper crisis”
PANews September 30 reported, citing CoinDesk, that the United States SEC on September 1 proposed the first major revision to the transfer agent rules since the 70 s, aiming to incorporate blockchain technology into the securities registration and settlement system. The proposal emphasizes that transfer agents, as the “official register” of equity ownership, may use distributed ledger technology in the future to record and transfer securities, but must avoid the risks of token wrapping,SPV, and the coexistence of brokers’ internal ledgers and off-chain databases causing ownership data to become fragmented. Institutions including Fairmint advocate treating the on-chain cap table itself as the official ledger required under Section 17A of the Exchange Act, rather than allowing tokens to serve merely as “wrappers” for off-chain equity. The authors call for SEC distinguishing between “native on-chain registration” and “off-chain asset token wrapping” models in Form TA-2, updating methods for identifying holders, and recognizing that smart contracts can be used for self...
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🔗https://www.panewslab.com/zh/articles/01a0f209-9eb9-75bd-bfa9-04baa522ee28
Key points
01
PANews reported that the United States SEC on September 1 proposed the first major revision to the transfer agent rules since the 70 s.
02
The proposal aims to incorporate blockchain technology into the securities registration and settlement system.
03
The proposal states that transfer agents, as the “official register” of equity ownership, may use distributed ledger technology in the future to record and transfer securities.
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The proposal emphasizes the need to avoid token wrapping,SPV, and the coexistence of brokers’ internal ledgers and off-chain databases causing ownership data to become fragmented.
05
Institutions including Fairmint advocate treating the on-chain cap table as the official ledger required under Section 17A of the Exchange Act.
AI-assisted interpretation
The following is analysis, separate from reported facts. Verify important claims independently.
Transfer agents are responsible for maintaining equity registers. The proposal discusses using blockchain or distributed ledger technology in the future to record securities ownership and transfers, while also focusing on the potential data inconsistencies caused by the coexistence of different on-chain and off-chain records.
Why it matters to readers
If the rules continue to advance, how blockchain is used in securities registration and settlement, and whether on-chain registration can become the official ledger, may become areas of subsequent attention.
This concerns where ownership records for stocks or other securities are maintained, and whether blockchain records can obtain formal registration status.
Risks and unknowns
The evidence consists only of an excerpt from PANews’ coverage of the CoinDesk report and does not provide the full text of the SEC proposal or its complete provisions.
The original text is truncated at “smart contracts can be used for self...”, so the relevant content cannot be confirmed.
At present, it can only be confirmed that the proposal has been reported; the final rules and whether the relevant arrangements will be adopted remain unclear.
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Related concepts
transfer agent
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