Coinbase, the leading crypto exchange in the U.S., is reportedly seeking regulatory approval to offer “tokenized equities” on its platform, a move that would put the company in direct competition with retail brokerages like Robinhood and Charles Schwab.
Paul Grewal, chief legal officer at Coinbase, told Reuters that the company was seeking the go-ahead from the Security and Exchange Commission for the new product, adding that tokenized equities was a “huge priority.”
When asked for additional comment, Coinbase confirmed the news to Fortune, and pointed to an additional social media post from Grewal, in which he wrote: “Exciting? Yes. Important? Absolutely. But breaking news? Not exactly. We’ve been saying since earlier this year that @SECGov should enable markets to unlock tokenized securities. Tokenized debt, equity, and investment funds present an opportunity for tailored regulation for securities that are offered and traded via digitally native methods.”
Grewal followed that up with a link to a March response from Coinbase to a SEC inquiry asking for input from the public about how to regulate the crypto space. The company’s 41-page response to the SEC focused on the advancement of discussions around tokenized equities, among other things.
The SEC did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
“Tokenized equities” refers to an investment product in which shares of a publicly-traded company are converted into a digital token that can be traded on a blockchain, as if it were a form of cryptocurrency. That would allow customers to trade these “equities” around the clock, as blockchain transactions can take place at any time of day rather than regular Wall Street trading hours.
Tokenized equities have been a long-time goal for Coinbase. The company first tried to bring digitized stocks to market in 2021, the same year as its initial public offering, by issuing a tokenized version of its own stock, Coinbase’s chief financial officer Alesia Haas said in March of this year. She added the plan was halted by Biden-era SEC chair Gary Gensler, but that under a different presidential administration that has embraced the crypto industry, Coinbase would be renewing its push for tokenized equities.
“I now believe that our U.S. regulators are looking for product innovation and looking to move forward,” she said. “I’m now excited that we may be able to re-engage those conversations with the SEC’s task force, that we may be able to bring forward security tokens.”
Most companies that offer securities trading have to be registered as broker-dealers, like Morgan Stanley’s E*Trade or Fidelity, which Coinbase is not. One way for Coinbase to receive approval from the SEC to offer tokenized equities is by requesting a “no action letter,” Grewal said. That would be a way for the SEC to pledge it would not object to tokenized securities, or recommend an enforcement action.
“With a no action letter, an issuer of a tokenized equity or a platform that wishes to offer secondary trading in those equities can have some confidence, some comfort, that the SEC has adopted its view of why this product is compliant,” Grewal said.
It is not clear whether Coinbase is seeking to gain approval for tokenized securities through a “no action letter” or through some other legal means.
