Desheng Gaohua: Demand for tokenized stocks in the United States may be limited

The SEC opens a five-year path for tokenized U.S. stock trading, but TD Cowen points out that there is little interest from U.S. investors

Summary: TD Cowen expects limited adoption of tokenized stock products by U.S. retail and institutional investors. Data showed that 99.9% of the transactions examined were conducted through their traditional Nasdaq-listed stocks. The SEC exemption requires stock tokens to retain economic benefits, dividends, voting rights and liquidation rights. Binance data shows that Nvidia perpetual contracts generate 96% of the total nominal principal amount involved. TD Cowen said that U.S. investors are already able to efficiently access listed stocks, so tokenized trading platforms are under tremendous pressure to provide advantages that offset thin liquidity and increased operational complexity.

Reid Noch, vice president of U.S. equity market structure at TD Cowen, wrote in a report released Friday that demand from retail institutions and institutions is likely to remain limited in the early stages of the market.

Noch wrote: "U.S. investors have been able to efficiently access underlying stocks." He added that tokenized platforms need to provide convincing advantages to offset their operational complexity and limited liquidity.

This assessment follows the five-year exemption for tokenized shares announced by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on September 17. This conditional exemption allows eligible "tokenized securities venues" to use licensed automated market makers (AMM) and liquidity pools to trade tokenized National Market System (NMS) stocks.

合格的流动性提供商还可以暂时免除某些经销商注册要求。每个参与的场所仍受其所支持股票数量和通过系统处理的交易量的限制。

代币化股票需与高效的美股市场竞争

对于美国投资者而言，TD Cowen的关注点在于，代币化是否能改善一个已经拥有深厚流动性、低成本经纪服务和快速电子执行的市场。

基于区块链的场所可以将股票交易扩展到夜间、周末和节假日。其自动做市商（AMM）将通过资产池和预设规则对交易进行定价，而不是像传统订单簿那样匹配买家和卖家。

在实践中，Noch警告称，持续的可访问性并不能保证有利的执行结果。如果主要美国市场时段之外交易者较少且流动性提供者不活跃，资产有限的池子可能会产生较差的价格。

AMM定价更侧重于每个池中存入资产的规模和构成。虽然某个场所可能在技术上全天候开放，但TD Cowen的分析表明，如果链上市场的流动性较低或交易成本较高，投资者仍可能倾向于成熟的交易所。

美国交易所通常在美东时间工作日上午9:30至下午4:00之间进行主要交易。几家券商已经提供盘前和盘后交易访问，这降低了部分国内交易者对独立区块链场所的价值评估。

SEC附加投资者保护措施

The SEC included investor protection clauses in its experiments. Approved tokens must represent NMS shares and retain the economic benefits, dividends, voting rights and liquidation rights associated with the underlying shares.

Synthetic products that only track company stock prices are not eligible. As previously reported by crypto.news, the agency's investor rights requirements distinguish eligible stock tokens from offshore products, which may provide economic exposure but do not make the buyer a shareholder.

Issuer's opposition may restrict listings of tokenized shares

The SEC framework requires proposed venues to notify issuers before a third party tokenizes company shares. According to TD Cowen's report, the company then had 30 days to raise objections.

As a result, listed companies retain some control and can decide whether unrelated operators create blockchain versions of their securities. When the issuer raises an objection, transactions may not be conducted under exemption.

Noch said discussions with dozens of issuers found little interest in offering tokenized shares. These include several companies with a large retail investor base, although cryptocurrency-related companies such as Figure have shown more interest.

Noch wrote: "Our conversations with dozens of issuers" show that demand is negligible except for companies in cryptocurrency-related industries.

Figure provides an existing comparison between traditional stocks and blockchain-based stocks. Its NASDAQ-listed FIGR shares are traded in parallel with native blockchain FGRS shares with the same economic exposure and voting rights.

在TD Cowen研究的24小时期间，传统的FIGR股票占该公司名义交易的99.9%。这一发现表明，平等的经济和治理权利并不足以将有意义的活动从纳斯达克上市的证券中转移出来。

其他SEC条件可能限制场所扩展市场的速度

智能合约必须是公开且可审计的，运营商必须披露交易活动、关联方交易以及有关其系统的关键细节。

每当主要交易所停止交易基础股票时，场所也必须暂停代币化股票的交易。因此，全天候可用性不会覆盖因波动性、公司新闻或监管问题而导致的官方停牌。

9月初，SEC还提议对过户代理规则进行全面改革，涵盖数字所有权记录、网络安全、资产保护和第三方技术提供商。过户代理维护用于投票、股息、拆股和其他公司行为的正式股东名册，当代币声称代表法定所有权时，其记录至关重要。

股票永续合约显示出比代币化股票更强的需求

对于寻求公共公司敞口的加密交易者，TD Cowen发现永续合约的活动多于现货股票代币。

Binance上关于英伟达交易的快照显示，永续合约产生了96%的名义交易量，而现货产品仅占4%。永续合约追踪资产价格，但不转移所引用股票的所有权。

These contracts do not have a fixed maturity date and use cyclical funding payments to keep their prices close to the underlying stock. They also provide leverage that allows traders to control larger positions with less capital, but increases liquidation risk when prices move adversely.

Noch wrote: "As we continue to outline, we see perpetual contracts as a story of greater demand."

TD Cowen expects the platform to continue to add such products within and outside the United States, citing retail demand for leverage. Recent documents support this comparison. On September 18, Coinbase submitted proposals for more than 50 equity perpetual contracts linked to companies including Nvidia, Microsoft and Tesla. If U.S. regulators approve the contracts, the exchange plans to offer 24-hour trading Monday to Friday.

Coinbase's proposed product will provide leveraged price exposure, but will not include voting rights, dividends or ownership of the stocks cited. Its listing still requires regulatory review, and the company has not announced a release date or full contract specifications.

Earlier in September, Ondo Finance also asked the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to apply existing securities futures rules to equity perpetual contracts. According to Ondo's regulatory filing, its Panamanian affiliates processed a cumulative $8 billion in transaction volume in approximately six weeks.

Ondo表示，该离岸平台以稳定币结算合约，并且美国用户无法使用。其许多永续合约参考的是在美国上市的公司，这使得符合条件的非美国交易者能够在不开设传统经纪账户的情况下追踪其股价。