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Bringing securities on-chain is happening, right NOW
It feels that we are reaching an important inflection point – registered securities are actually moving onto blockchain rails. This new, internet-native, frictionless infrastructure, that so far was solely the home of curious crypto-native assets, is entering the major league. We had already seen the tremendous growth of stablecoins (this is only accelerating as evidenced by this week’s stablecoin rollout to 101 countries by Stripe), but now securities are entering the arena too.
Yesterday, Superstate, a company founded by Robert Leshner (founder of Compound and GP Robot Ventures), announced their platform Opening Bell, which enables companies to issue publicly registered shares directly on blockchain networks like Solana and Ethereum. Last week a coalition including Superstate quietly filed “Project Open” with the SEC—a tightly scoped 18‑month pilot that would let a handful of US companies issue, register, and trade their shares natively on Solana. And SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce at the same time stated that the SEC is considering a potential exemption order that would allow companies to use distributed ledger technology to issue, trade and settle securities. It is happening, and the first company looking to go public on-chain is SOL Strategies. This is something that was still completely unthinkable as little as a year ago.
The implications of this are massive. No more transfer agents shuffling paper, no clearing houses net‑settling two days later. Just wallet‑to‑wallet ownership, instant finality, and on‑chain cap tables that anyone (regulator, auditor, or retail holder) can verify in real time. All the compliance is built into the token contract, whitelisting addresses that can own the security. It can be traded globally and instantly on decentralized rails, for a minimal cost, 24/7 with instant settlement. You will be able to use your securities in defi protocols like Uniswap, Compound and Aave, to frictionlessly swap, or borrow against it. It includes the familiar investor safeguards—KYC‑whitelisted wallets, the regulating authority's ability to unwind inevitable fat‑finger errors or hold trading, and full reporting. In return, issuers get second‑level settlement, 24/7 global distribution, and a capital stack that lives entirely in software.
For us the signal is loud: U.S. regulators are edging from tokenized wrappers to tokenized issuance. Our managers are already mapping where the picks‑and‑shovels opportunities will lie—on‑chain transfer agents, KYC middleware, or cap‑table analytics.
The internet capital market era is no longer theoretical; it’s knocking on Wall Streets door.
- BGCI Index 3.7%
- Bitcoin 10.1%
- Ethereum 26.5%
- Solana 12.5%
All figures are week-to-date as of today 13:00 CET
- A big congrats to our Dutch friends at Deribit, which got sold to Coinbase for the whopping sum of $2.9billion (read more)
- Apple Lifts iOS Restrictions Allowing Bitcoin, Crypto Payments and NFTs; Ends 30% Apple Tax (read more)
- Stripe rolls out stablecoin payments across 101 countries (read more)
- Ethereum Rolls Out Pectra, Its ‘Most Ambitious Upgrade Yet’ (read more)
- DeFi Pioneer’s Superstate To Bring Public Equities To Solana (read more)
- OCC Says Banks Can Handle Crypto for Customers—And Outsource It Too (read more)
- SEC May Allow Tokenized Securities Trading via Blockchain, Says Commissioner Peirce (read more)
- Stablecoin Legislation Suffers Severe Blow as GENIUS Act Fails to Pass Key Senate Vote (read more)
- Meta in talks to deploy stablecoins three years after giving up on landmark crypto project (read more)
- Robinhood plans blockchain platform to allow trading of US securities in Europe (read more)
- EU AML Rules Ban Anonymous Accounts, Privacy Coins (read more)
- Goldman Sachs to Launch 24/7 Trading for Tokenized U.S. Treasurys, Money Market Funds, and First U.S. Fund Tokenization in 2025 (read more)
- Citi, Swiss Firm SDX to Unveil Tokenization for Pre-IPO Shares Market in Q3 (read more)
- Revolut to Roll Out Bitcoin Lightning Payments for Europe Users Through Lightspark (read more)
- Shardeum*, an EVM-based decentralized Layer 1 blockchain focusing on scalability, security, and decentralization, had its TGE and is now trading at a $250mln FDV
- Space and Time*, a decentralized data warehouse that connects on-chain and off-chain data to power smart contract use cases, launched its token which is now trading at a $728mln FDV
- Obol*, an ecosystem that enables the creation, testing, running, and coordination of distributed validators for Ethereum, had its TGE and is now trading at a $145mln FDV
- Deribit*, a cryptocurrency options and futures exchange that allows users to trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and other cryptocurrencies, has been acquired by Coinbase for $2.9bln
- IntoTheBlock*, a tool that provides market intelligence leveraging blockchain data to provide actionable insights for crypto assets, has merged with Trident Digital Group
- Rhodium, a cryptocurrency mining company, has been acquired by Riot Platforms for $185mln
- Sonic*, a high-performing EVM L1 combining speed and incentives, has raised $10mln in a Strategic funding round with investments from Galaxy Ventures
- Securitize*, a company that is making real-world assets available to institutions and investors through tokenization, has raised an undisclosed amount in a Strategic funding round with investments from Jump Crypto.
- BVNK, a payments platform that offers financial solutions to enterprises, has raised an undisclosed amount in a Strategic funding round with investments from Visa
- Fuze, a digital asset infrastructure provider purpose-built for the Middle East, has raised $12.20mln in a Series A funding round with investments from Galaxy Ventures
- Doppel*, a company that offers cybersecurity services to Web3 platforms, allowing them to detect and block media impersonations, NFT counterfeits, and digital phishing attacks, has raised $35mln in a Series B funding round with investments from Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, South Park Commons, Sabrina Hahn, Script Capital and 3 others
- eToro, an online trading platform that enables individuals to invest in a range of financial assets, including stocks, cryptocurrencies, commodities, and more, is aiming to raise up to $500mln from investors via its IPO on the Nasdaq exchange
- Xweave*, a blockchain-based fintech service facilitating cross-border payments, has raised $3mln in a Seed funding round with investments from Digital Currency Group, Fabric Ventures, White Star Capital, Lightshift Capital, The Venture Dept. and 2 others
- DogeOS, an app layer for Dogecoin, enabling games, DeFi, NFTs, and AI apps, has raised $6.90mln in an Undisclosed funding round with investments from Polychain Capital
- Sentora*, a platform focused on providing institutional investors with access to DeFi solutions, has raised $25mln in a Series A funding round with investments from Tribe Capital, New Form Capital, UDHC, Curved Ventures, Ripple and 3 others
- Pencil Finance, an end-to-end protocol that turns student loans into a capital-efficient, yield-generated real-world-asset, has raised $10mln in an Undisclosed funding round with investments from Animoca Brands and Open Campus Protocol
*Underlying TBV portfolio position | Prices as per 09/05
- Vitalik Buterin’s blog post on simplifying the L1 (read more)
- An old one to zoom out: The Crypto Renaissance – Josh Rosenthal on Bankless (2021) (watch here)
The Theta team will be attending the following upcoming events.
HONGBOG CEO
4moCryptoWatch: Smartwatch-Based Cryptocurrency Wallet by using iris recognition.