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FollowingThe U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposes major revisions to transfer agent rules
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released a 421-page document on Tuesday that substantively rewrites the transfer agent rules for the first time since the early 1980s, which repeatedly mentions blockchain record-keeping and tokenized securities.
The transfer agent is responsible for maintaining official records of the issuer's ownership of securities and handling issues such as issues, cancellations and transfers. Most of the SEC's current rules were enacted in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Thedocument states that market participants are actively seeking to introduce native blockchain (i.e.,"on-chain") transfer agents to the U.S. market, and related companies are building blockchain-based record-keeping, tokenized fund management and cross-chain interoperability models that require agents to maintain security-holder records on distributed ledgers and run smart contract-driven processes.
The proposed new Form TA-2 requires agents to report how many tranches of securities are stored on a distributed ledger, and divides tokenized securities into issuer originated and third-party originated-which the SEC linked to different investor risks in a January 2026 staff statement. Tokenized agents and distributed ledger platforms are included on the service provider checklist along with banks and printers.
The document also seeks advice on how to deal with records kept only on ledgers over which the agent cannot independently control; and whether the rules allow agents to associate wallet addresses and holdings with off-chain records of the holder's names and addresses, allowing on-chain transfers can also simultaneously update the main file.
Commissioner Hester Pierce said the proposal had been in the making for more than a decade and invited all parties to comment on its tokenization impact. The SEC last reviewed the rules in a 2015 concept paper.
Commissioner Mark T. Ujeda pointed out that after more than a decade without any rulemaking, the SEC has shifted to "replacing supervision with enforcement, a piecemeal strategy that provides neither clarity nor predictability." He said that distributed ledger technology and tokenization were almost in their infancy in 2015, but are now reshaping the core work of agents.
SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins said the new rules will reflect agents 'use of "electronic communications and blockchain technology." The proposal would also abolish an exemption rule, set a single retention period for most records, and redefine security rules as risk management requirements that cover cybersecurity and business continuity.
The SEC also announced a separate agenda for a roundtable meeting on 24-hour trading on September 17, which included representatives from Robinhood, Nasdaq, DTCC, and overnight trading platforms Blue Ocean and 24X. The comment period for transfer agency proposals will end 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.
