A coalition of crypto organizations, led by Solana Policy Institute and Superstate, is proposing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) an 18-month pilot program called Project Open, aimed at tokenizing stocks and trading them on a public blockchain.
This is an unprecedented effort to modernize the traditional financial market, with the expectation of paving the way for a tokenized asset ecosystem worth $19 trillion by 2033.
What is Project Open?
Objective: To experiment with the issuance and trading of tokenized securities on the blockchain, rather than through centralized exchanges or OTC trading as currently done.
Testing period: 18 months.
Participants: Solana Policy Institute, Superstate, law firm Lowenstein Sandler LLP, and the decentralized exchange Orca (under the name Zagreus Services LLC).
Operating method: Tokenization of stocks on high-performance blockchains (the specific chains have not been disclosed yet, but clearly #Solana is a promising candidate).
Why does the traditional market need blockchain?
According to CEO Miller Whitehouse-Levin (Solana Policy Institute), the current financial system can become more transparent and efficient thanks to blockchain.
Superstate CEO Robert Leshner adds that the program will help #SEC and the financial industry build a more practical legal framework, thereby moving toward the formalization of securities trading on the blockchain.
Notable differences in the proposal:
Network fees (gas) will be classified as technical costs, not as securities transaction fees.
Participating wallets will be required to perform KYC to ensure legal compliance.
Tokenization: An irreversible trend
CEO of BlackRock – Larry Fink – compares: If SWIFT is the 'postal service', then tokenization is the email of the financial market.
CEO of Robinhood – Vlad Tenev – calls this an 'investment revolution'.
Reports from Ripple and BCG predict that the tokenized asset market could reach $19 trillion by 2033.
Will the SEC agree?
Although not yet an official proposal, Project Open has been presented directly to the SEC and is calling for feedback from the community.
Leshner asserts: The SEC currently has sufficient authority to approve a permanent legal framework for securities on the blockchain, without needing new legislation from the U.S. Congress.
If successful, this program will pave the way for trading stocks like Google, Tesla, Facebook in token form, potentially occurring directly on decentralized platforms like Solana or Ethereum.
Contact with the crypto market:
If the SEC agrees to the proposal, this will be a major breakthrough for DeFi and Solana, laying the foundation for a hybrid financial market between traditional securities and blockchain technology.
Binance and other Web3 platforms can learn from this model to integrate tokenized assets, expanding the global investment ecosystem.
Risk Warning: Investing in the cryptocurrency market and tokenized assets involves high risk and volatility. This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice. Users should carefully consider and take responsibility for their decisions.