Official records may shift to blockchain ledgers: US SEC proposes amending transfer agent rules

According to Odaily, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed a new rule last week to amend transfer agent regulations, allowing electronic databases including blockchain ledgers to serve as the official records of securities ownership. If the proposal is approved, issuers and transfer agents may no longer need to maintain both on-chain token ledgers and off-chain shareholder registers simultaneously, and ownership records of tokenized securities could shift from two sets of records to a single record. Centrifuge Chief Legal Officer Eli Cohen stated that the proposal could simplify the current "two-step" process into a "one-step" process, allowing the blockchain to serve as the primary securities document. Joris Delanoue, CEO of SEC-registered on-chain transfer agent Fairmint, stated that assets would still need to comply with 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.