On 12 May 2025, US SEC Commissioner Mark T. Uyeda delivered a speech at the United States Crypto Task Force Roundtable in Washington, D.C., titled “Tokenisation of Real-World Assets.” Addressing panelists and attendees, Uyeda discussed the transformative potential of blockchain technology in reshaping financial markets while advocating for a transparent and predictable regulatory framework.
Commissioner Uyeda’s speech held the significance of tokenisation, the process of representing real-world assets like real estate and intellectual property as digital tokens on blockchain networks. He views tokenisation as a technological evolution with the potential to enhance liquidity, streamline compliance, and reduce transactional costs in financial markets. Uyeda stresses the need for regulatory transparency, criticising past ambiguities that left market participants uncertain about compliance. Through the United States Crypto Task Force, led by US SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, he advocates for a regulatory framework that engages market participants, addresses key market processes like issuance and settlement, and adapts to technological advancements without stifling innovation.
The tokenisation of real-world assets has emerged as a focal point in financial innovation, leveraging blockchain technology to digitise assets traditionally considered illiquid or cumbersome to trade. By recording ownership on transparent, decentralised ledgers, tokenisation promises to simplify processes like issuance, trading, and settlement while enabling novel use cases, such as tokenised real estate titles or intellectual property rights. The US SEC, responsible for overseeing U.S. capital markets, has historically grappled with integrating emerging technologies into its regulatory framework, designed in the 1930s for paper-based securities. Recent efforts, including the establishment of the United States Crypto Task Force, reflect a shift toward proactive engagement with market participants to address these challenges and foster innovation.
Uyeda aims to articulate the US SEC’s commitment to harnessing the benefits of tokenisation while ensuring regulatory clarity for market participants. By drawing on historical parallels between past technological shifts and current blockchain advancements, he seeks to frame tokenisation as an opportunity to modernise financial markets. His remarks emphasise the importance of public input in shaping a regulatory framework that balances investor protection with innovation. Uyeda also highlights the Crypto Task Force’s role in facilitating dialogue, positioning the roundtable as a critical step toward constructing a “crypto rulebook” that provides transparency and predictability for issuers, investors, and other stakeholders.
Uyeda identifies several issues surrounding the tokenisation of real-world assets. The primary challenge is the lack of regulatory clarity, which has left market participants uncertain about how to comply with US SEC rules when bringing assets onchain. This ambiguity is particularly pronounced in areas like issuance, trading, transfer, settlement, and recordkeeping, all of which are impacted by blockchain’s decentralised and transparent nature. He notes that existing regulations, such as those under Regulation NMS, may not fully accommodate onchain securities, raising complex compliance questions. Additionally, Uyeda acknowledges the broader tension between rapid technological innovation and outdated regulatory tools, echoing concerns raised by former Commissioner Joseph Grundfest in the 1980s about the mismatch between old regulations and new technologies.
To address these issues, Uyeda proposes a regulatory approach centred on transparency and engagement with market participants. He advocates for the US SEC to actively seek input through roundtables and other forums, ensuring that the experiences of investors and issuers inform policymaking. Rather than creating overly prescriptive rules that address every possible scenario, Uyeda suggests designing a framework focused on critical safeguards, similar to past transitions from paper certificates to electronic recordkeeping. He supports the Crypto Task Force’s efforts to construct a tailored “crypto rulebook” that clarifies compliance obligations for tokenised assets. Uyeda also calls for evaluating whether blockchain’s transparency and efficiency can benefit all market participants, potentially reducing compliance and transactional costs while enhancing liquidity for illiquid assets.
Commissioner Uyeda contextualised tokenisation within a historical arc of technological advancement, noting that previous disruptions, like the transition from paper certificates to digital records, were ultimately accommodated by regulation without sacrificing its core investor protection objectives. According to Uyeda, tokenisation is the next natural evolution of capital markets infrastructure, implicating foundational processes including issuance, trading, transfer, settlement, and ownership recording. Beyond efficiency gains, he pointed to the ability of tokenisation to broaden access, increase liquidity for otherwise illiquid assets, and lower costs for investors and issuers. He highlighted novel applications, such as tokenised real estate titles and intellectual property-backed tokens, which offer programmable ownership and verifiable digital provenance through blockchain technology.
(Source: https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/uyeda-remarks-crypto-roundtable-tokenization-051225)
