First transfer-agent overhaul since the 1980s

The SEC published a 421-page proposal to modernise the rules governing registered transfer agents, the firms that maintain the official record of who owns a company's shares, process transfers and handle dividends. The framework dates to the late 1970s and early 1980s. The rewrite explicitly addresses blockchain-native transfer agents and distributed-ledger recordkeeping, and a revised Form TA-2 would require agents to report how many share registers they keep on-chain.

Chair Paul Atkins tied the move to the agency's broader Regulation Crypto Assets push and repeated his call for Congress to pass the CLARITY Act. A 17 September SEC roundtable on 24/7 stock trading will include BlackRock, Nasdaq, NYSE and Robinhood.

Why it matters for tokenised stocks

Real on-chain equities need legally recognised ownership records, not just digital wrappers. If adopted, the proposal moves tokenised securities from an experiment into regulated market infrastructure.

London goes tokenised

The London Stock Exchange Group announced a partnership with Payward, Kraken's parent, to issue the 100 largest LSE-listed companies as tokenised xStocks. Launch is planned on LSE 24, the exchange's 24-hour venue, in 2027, subject to regulatory approval. The LSE separately plans overnight trading in the first half of 2027.

Meanwhile, the market sold off

Wednesday opened with about $370 million of derivatives liquidations. XRP led the drop amid a scheduled escrow unlock; Solana slipped below $100 and Bitcoin traded around $77,200–77,600. Rising oil prices and Treasury yields pushed September rate-hike odds to about 66%.

Strategy is back

Strategy resumed Bitcoin purchases with a $369.7 million acquisition, ending its two-month pause. Also on Solana, Kamino launched a market bringing tokenised private credit from Fasanara Capital on-chain via Midas.

The takeaway

Two of the world's most important market regulators and exchanges are building the rails for stocks to live on blockchains. The price chart said "risk-off." The infrastructure said "full steam ahead."