Tokenized Stocks: Are We There Yet? 🙄

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So, apparently, someone thinks America is ready for stock tokens. Which is… a bold claim. It’s like saying everyone’s ready for a reboot of “Cats” – some things just feel unnecessary. But hey, who am I to judge? 🤷‍♀️

Key Takeaways

  • Securitize snagged a lawyer from PayPal. A lawyer! They’re really leaning into this whole “legal” thing.
  • They insist tokenized securities can work within U.S. rules. I’m picturing a lot of paperwork.
  • Their platform is all about “real equities on-chain.” Sounds fancy, but mostly just makes my head hurt.

Jerome Roche, formerly of PayPal (where he presumably spent a lot of time explaining blockchain to his grandma), is now Securitize’s chief legal strategist. Because what you really need when you’re disrupting finance is more legal. Look, I get it. Liability. But still. 😉

Tokenized Stocks Aren’t “Offshore Products,” Securitize Argues

For years, everyone figured tokenized stocks would be some kind of weird, crypto-y thing happening in Estonia. Securitize is like, “Nope! We’re doing it here!” And… good for them? I mean, I guess that’s the pitch.

They’re out there claiming they’ve built the whole compliant infrastructure – broker-dealer, transfer agent, the works. It’s like building a Legoland replica of Wall Street. Impressive, but also… a Legoland replica.

They say they’re not simulating financial assets, they’re just… managing the real ones “on-chain.” Which, okay, sure. I’ll just nod and pretend I understand. 😌

Roche says financial ownership is still stuck in the past. And he’s got a point. Like my Aunt Mildred and her checkbook. But distributed ledgers are the answer? I feel like there’s a strongly worded email involved somewhere.

He also wisely notes that innovation can’t happen without rules. Which is basically the opposite of everything Silicon Valley has ever stood for.

Two Continents, One Regulatory Strategy

They got approval in Europe too! Congrats to Europe for being slightly more prepared for this. It’s like being the only person at a party who brought a sensible sweater.

This makes Securitize one of the few companies trying to build regulated tokenized markets in both the US and Europe. Everyone else seems to have bailed on the US. That’s either really brave or incredibly foolish. We’ll see. 🍿

And the SEC just finished investigating another player in this space, Ondo Finance. Apparently, that’s a good sign? It’s like they’re saying, “Okay, maybe this isn’t complete madness.”

Ondo thinks this could speed things up. And Securitize agrees. Because, naturally, they do. They’ve got a vested interest. It’s all very…capitalistic.

So, what was once considered “regulatory exile” is now being called “regulatory maturation.” Which is a really nice way of saying they didn’t get shut down. 🤷

Disclaimer: I’m a comedy writer, not a financial advisor. If you lose all your money on tokenized stocks, please don’t send me hate mail. I warned you.

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2025-12-10 04:25