The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposed a rule on September 1 that would let blockchain technology serve as official records of securities transactions, and simultaneously announced a September 17 roundtable exploring whether U.S. stock markets should trade around the clock.
The two moves, announced in separate statements, signal the SEC under Chairman Paul Atkins is pursuing blockchain integration and market modernization in parallel. Both could reshape how crypto-native firms interact with traditional securities infrastructure and determine the legal status of on-chain ownership records.
Transfer agents go on-chain
The proposed transfer-agent rule would rewrite regulations that have not been substantially updated in decades. Transfer agents, the firms responsible for tracking ownership of securities, would be required to consider blockchain technology alongside existing electronic record-keeping systems. The rule acknowledges that on-chain transactions happen instantly and openly, a reality that challenges the traditional batch-processing model transfer agents have relied on for years.
The rule opens a 60-day public comment period. Commissioner Hester Peirce highlighted one question that will matter most to the crypto sector: whether transfer agents should continue to collect physical addresses of securityholders, or whether the rule should permit digital wallet addresses as an alternative identifier.
“Should transfer agents continue to be required to collect names and physical addresses of securityholders or should the rule allow other identifiers, such as email and digital wallet addresses, to be collected instead?” Peirce wrote in a separate statement on September 1.
The proposal arrives as tokenized securities gain traction. CoinDesk reported that Bullish, the parent company of CoinDesk, recently acquired transfer agent Equiniti in a $4.2 billion deal. The acquisition signals that crypto-native platforms see transfer-agent infrastructure as a growth area worth billions of dollars.
The rule also introduces new cybersecurity controls for transfer agents, according to the SEC release. The requirements come as the industry handles increasingly large volumes of digital records, and as several high-profile breaches have exposed vulnerabilities in legacy systems that still rely on batch processing and manual reconciliation.
SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda, in a separate statement, noted that the proposed amendments represent a comprehensive overhaul of transfer-agent regulations. He raised questions about the scope of the new requirements and whether they might impose disproportionate compliance costs on smaller firms that lack the engineering resources to implement blockchain-based record-keeping.
24-hour trading roundtable
The SEC September 17 roundtable at its Washington headquarters will bring together major securities exchanges and market infrastructure firms. Participants include NYSE, Nasdaq, State Street, Citadel Securities, Cboe, DTCC, and Robinhood.
The panels will address overnight surveillance, closing-price practices, clearing and settling trades on a continuous system, and maintenance of markets that never shut. For crypto broker-dealers already operating 24/7, the rules that emerge from the roundtable could directly affect their operations and regulatory obligations.
The crypto industry was born into a technology that never closes, but traditional U.S. equity markets have operated on fixed hours for decades. Moving to continuous trading would require solving significant logistical problems, including how to handle overnight settlement, how to price securities when no central exchange is open, and how to staff surveillance systems around the clock.
Robinhood, which has expanded aggressively into crypto trading and launched its own layer-2 chain on Ethereum, is a notable participant. Its presence at the roundtable suggests the company sees an opportunity to advocate for market structure changes that align equity trading with the 24/7 model its crypto users already expect.
New York Fed President John Williams told CNBC on September 2 that higher Treasury yields reflect economic strength, but the roundtable could add another layer to the market structure debate. The 10-year Treasury yield posted its highest close since late 2023 on September 1, partly driven by expectations of a Federal Reserve rate hike.
Timing amid rate pressure
The announcements arrive during a volatile stretch for markets. U.S. stocks suffered their third consecutive losing session on September 1, with the Dow falling more than 400 points after new U.S. strikes against Iran sent oil prices up 5.2%. Bitcoin dropped 1.5% to $76,548, and the broader crypto market lost $367.7 million in leveraged liquidations.
The transfer-agent rule does not address Bank Secrecy Act, anti-money laundering, or OFAC sanctions requirements. Those will be handled in a separate rulemaking coordinated with the Treasury Department, according to the OCC proposed framework for implementing the GENIUS Act.
Crypto traders are watching both developments closely. If blockchain records gain official legal status, it could accelerate the tokenization of traditional assets. The 24-hour trading roundtable, meanwhile, would bring U.S. equity markets closer to crypto always-on model.
Both proposals face a long road before implementation. The transfer-agent rule must clear its comment period and survive potential legal challenges, while the 24-hour trading concept requires consensus among competing exchange operators with different business models and technical capabilities. The roundtable is a discussion, not a decision, but it sets the direction for what could be the most significant shift in U.S. market structure in a generation.
The SEC proposals also arrive amid a broader global push to align crypto regulation with traditional finance. The European Union MiCA framework went into effect earlier this year, and the UK FCA is accepting applications for crypto firms starting September 30. The U.S. moves could determine whether American firms remain competitive in an increasingly regulated global market.
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