SEC Floats Rule Change to Recognize Blockchain Ledgers as Official Securities Ownership Records

Odaily Planet Daily reports that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last week proposed amending transfer agent rules to allow electronic databases—including blockchain ledgers—to serve as official records of securities ownership. If adopted, issuers and transfer agents would no longer need to keep both an onchain token ledger and an offchain shareholder register, consolidating tokenized securities ownership into a single record. Eli Cohen, Chief Legal Officer at Centrifuge, said the change could collapse today's "two-step" workflow into a "one-step" process, with the blockchain becoming the primary securities record. Joris Delanoue, CEO of Fairmint—an SEC-registered onchain transfer agent—added that assets would still have to follow ownership and transfer requirements, while compliance controls such as identity checks and transfer restrictions would remain embedded in the tokens. Transfer agents would continue to manage administrative events like shareholder deaths, inheritance matters, and legal notices, with processing times potentially falling from 3–5 days to about 1 day. The proposal is open for public comment for 60 days, with the window set to close in early November.