The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed a sweeping modernization of transfer-agent regulations that explicitly recognizes blockchain technology as infrastructure capable of maintaining securities ownership records. The SEC announced the proposal on September 1 under file number S7-2026-30, marking the first comprehensive rewrite of rules governing registered transfer agents since many of those requirements were established in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Transfer agents occupy a critical position in U.S. securities infrastructure. They maintain official shareholder records, register transfers between investors, monitor securities issuance and frequently handle dividends, interest payments, redemptions and other corporate actions. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said the proposal would modernize those rules to reflect current operations, specifically citing electronic communications and blockchain technology used in securities offerings and share transfers. The proposal is technology-neutral, however. Transfer agents would be permitted to use distributed ledgers but would not be required to adopt blockchain.
Blockchain Can Become Part of the Official Ownership Record
The distinction is important because tokenizing a stock does not automatically establish legal ownership of the underlying security. For issuer-sponsored tokenized securities, blockchain infrastructure can instead become part of the official master securityholder file maintained by an issuer or its registered transfer agent. SEC staff had already clarified that approach before Tuesday’s proposal.
Its distributed-ledger guidance says a registered transfer agent may use blockchain as its official master securityholder file, or as one component of that file, provided all federal recordkeeping, reporting, examination and safeguarding requirements are satisfied. A separate duplicate ownership database maintained entirely off-chain is not necessarily required. Personal information can remain in private databases while blockchain records store information including wallet addresses, balances, ownership percentages, purchase dates and transaction identifiers.
The September proposal would modernize the regulatory framework surrounding those systems. Transfer agents would need to maintain records that can be immediately produced to SEC examiners in human-readable and reasonably usable electronic formats and establish systems for recovering information that becomes damaged, altered or lost.
Tokenization Push Forces Market Plumbing to Change
The proposal goes considerably beyond blockchain recordkeeping. Transfer agents would face updated requirements covering cybersecurity, business continuity, safeguarding of securities and customer funds, restrictive legends and oversight of third-party service providers. Customer and issuer money held by transfer agents would generally need to remain segregated in bank accounts designated for the benefit of those customers rather than being commingled with the transfer agent’s operating funds.
Business-continuity procedures would need to address disruptions and restoration of ownership records. The SEC is also addressing outsourcing. Its data show 44% of transfer agents either used service companies for part of their operations or provided services to another transfer agent during 2025. Under the proposal, outsourcing technology would not outsource regulatory responsibility. The modernization comes as traditional finance accelerates tokenization projects. NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange is developing a digital securities platform targeting 24/7 trading and blockchain settlement and has selected Securitize and tZERO to provide parts of its digital transfer-agent infrastructure.
Franklin Templeton already operates its OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund using blockchain-integrated shareholder records, while Injective Institutional Services recently became an SEC-registered transfer agent. The SEC has separately explained that securities laws continue applying regardless of technological format. A stock does not stop being a security because ownership is represented by a token, and blockchain settlement does not eliminate registration, transfer-agent or investor-protection requirements. That makes Tuesday’s proposal less about deregulating tokenized securities than modernizing the regulated infrastructure beneath them.
The SEC is effectively acknowledging that the authoritative ledger showing who owns a regulated security can operate partly or entirely on blockchain infrastructure — provided the entity maintaining it satisfies the same legal responsibilities expected of traditional transfer agents. The proposal will remain open for public comment for 60 days following publication in the Federal Register. If finalized, it could provide one of the most important pieces of regulatory infrastructure yet for bringing U.S. stocks, bonds and investment funds onto blockchain rails.