Official Records or a Shift to Blockchain Ledgers: US SEC Proposes Amending Transfer Agent Rules

Odaily reports that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last week proposed a new rule amendment to transfer agent regulations, allowing electronic databases, including blockchain ledgers, to serve as the official record of securities ownership. If the proposal is approved, issuers and transfer agents may no longer need to maintain both onchain token ledgers and offchain shareholder registers simultaneously, and the ownership records of tokenized securities could shift from two sets of records to a single record. Eli Cohen, Chief Legal Officer of Centrifuge, said the proposal could simplify the current "two-step" process into a "one-step" process, allowing the blockchain to serve as the primary securities file. Joris Delanoue, CEO of SEC-registered onchain transfer agent Fairmint, said assets would still be subject to ownership and transfer rules, and regulatory controls such as identity verification and transfer restrictions would still be built into the tokens; transfer agents would still need to handle administrative matters such as shareholder death, inheritance, and legal notices, with processing windows potentially shortened from 3 to 5 days to 1 day. The proposal's 60-day public comment period will end in early November.