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The WSJ is warning public companies about tokenized stocks. The risks deserve scrutiny, but so does the fearmongering. Here’s what the ad gets wrong and how @tZERO is building compliance and security into tokenized markets. View article

“We want our infrastructure to be asset agnostic.” On September 17 at CBC Summit in Washington, DC, @tZERO EVP, Chief Legal & Administrative Officer @SavinoVaness sat down with @HenriArslanian to discuss expansion beyond tokenized securities into derivatives. Since recording: tZERO DCO received CFTC registration; DCM is pending. Watch the full episode: youtube.com/watch?v=LggwvmfW…

Your world tokenized @tZERO

We've spent a lot of time recently discussing @tZERO 's CFTC approvals and the opportunities opening up on the derivatives side. But today's announcement with @temple_ny highlights an entirely different part of what tZERO is building. The SEC-regulated securities side. Temple Digital Group has developed its own trading technology on @CantonNetwork , including a matching engine, order books, request-for-quote (RFQ) capabilities, and settlement infrastructure. Temple has already executed over $1.6B in transaction volume on Canton. So why bring tZERO into the picture? Because building the technology to trade tokenized securities and having the regulated infrastructure to operate that marketplace are two very different things. Under this agreement, tZERO Securities will serve as Temple's registered broker-dealer and Alternative Trading System (ATS) operator, providing regulated operating technology, client onboarding, and transaction services. Essentially, Temple brings its trading technology, platform, and clients. tZERO brings the regulated securities infrastructure needed to support that business. Now think about what this means for tZERO's business model. tZERO doesn't necessarily need every investor trading directly through its own platform. Instead, it can provide the infrastructure that allows other companies to operate their own marketplaces. Their brand. Their technology. Their clients. tZERO's regulated infrastructure. And that's where I believe the bigger opportunity exists. How many other financial institutions, asset managers, trading platforms, and technology companies could eventually benefit from these same capabilities as tokenization expands? Think about the broader financial industry. Financial institutions like Fidelity, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and State Street. Asset managers like BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, Apollo, and Hamilton Lane. Trading platforms like Robinhood, Coinbase, Kraken, and Webull. I'm not suggesting these companies are negotiating with tZERO or that they all need its services. Several already have substantial infrastructure of their own. But these are examples of the types of institutions and markets where tokenization is creating new opportunities and infrastructure requirements. Every one of these sectors faces some version of the same question: How do we bring traditional financial assets onto blockchain-based markets while maintaining the regulatory protections, trading capabilities, and operational infrastructure those markets require? Some institutions will build everything themselves. Others will find it more efficient to partner with companies that already have the necessary regulatory capabilities and infrastructure. And that's exactly where I believe tZERO is positioning itself to compete. Look at the bigger picture. Siebert. Dinari. Now Temple. Different companies. Different business models. Different opportunities. But all examples of how tZERO can extend its infrastructure and services beyond its own marketplace. Now imagine that model expanding across dozens of institutions and platforms. Instead of relying solely on trading activity generated through its own marketplace, tZERO could potentially generate revenue by providing infrastructure and services to multiple businesses across the financial ecosystem. Of course, the economics will depend on how these agreements are structured, the fees tZERO collects, and the transaction volume they ultimately generate. Temple's previously reported $1.6B in Canton volume isn't revenue for tZERO, and the new platform still needs to launch. But the strategy is becoming increasingly clear. Now here's where I think the bigger picture gets even more interesting. We've spent the past several days discussing the CFTC side of tZERO, including its recent Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO) approval and pending Designated Contract Market (DCM) application. Now today's Temple announcement highlights the SEC-regulated securities side. Two different regulatory environments. Different asset classes. Different opportunities. But all contributing to a much larger infrastructure strategy. Think about what tZERO is building. On the securities side, it already has regulated broker-dealer, ATS, custody, and other market infrastructure capabilities. On the derivatives side, it now has CFTC-registered introducing broker and DCO capabilities, with a DCM application still awaiting approval. These are separate regulatory permissions, with different requirements and responsibilities. But together, they could allow tZERO to provide institutions with access to a much broader range of financial market services across securities and derivatives. And that's what I believe makes this so interesting. A financial institution may not need every service tZERO provides. One company might need securities trading and custody. Another might need derivatives clearing and, eventually, exchange infrastructure. Others may want access to multiple asset classes through one broader infrastructure relationship. Rather than building every piece themselves, institutions could potentially leverage different parts of tZERO's regulated infrastructure to develop products and services for their own customers. Now imagine that business model expanding across multiple financial markets, institutions, and asset classes. There's a big difference between building your own marketplace and building the infrastructure that allows other companies to operate theirs. tZERO is positioning itself to do both. And to me, that's where the real long-term opportunity exists. We're beginning to see how all these pieces fit together. My two cents, worth zero.

Our builders and problem solvers moved heaven and earth again. Vanessa, Al, Chris and many others.  This is the team to back in this space, but we know that. I want to pause on is how the new CFTC-regulated rails fit into the overall strategy and competitive differentiation for tZERO.   Our mission is to tokenize Wall Street.  We are in the golden age of tokenization. Tokenization is not an experiment.  The sea change is irreversible. But this is also a transition for which most market participants – traditional and crypto – are unprepared.  We address that gap. tZERO has been the original innovator in this space going back to ten+ years.  While success has many fathers and mothers, my team and I stand behind a large chunk of the regulated innovation behind tokenization in the US.   And we sit right in the middle of this generational shift.   We are one of a few participants in this market and and represent a very differentiated proposition and entry point into the industry.  We operate the broadest and deepest diversified infrastructure-as-a-service platform across securities and, now, derivatives/prediction markets/crypto verticals.  Our tokenized securities vertical is deep with a more complete licensed infrastructure stack for a differentiated customer funnel.  These capabilities are underpinned by a portfolio of 103 patents across 23 families. Our stack is end-to-end and turnkey and serves institutional clients across the asset lifecycle. The offering is built, ready and commercialized with Tier 1 clients. Our core moat and competitive differentiator is our end-to-end suite of regulated services that cannot be replicated on any timescale consistent with this fast-moving marketplace.  The human capital and operational capabilities that support off-the-shelf and bespoke solutioning are also critical to our success.  We are independent and not captured by any single client or investor allowing for a customer funnel. Individually, these capabilities are scarce and hard to secure and, as importantly, operationalize (for example, those who own the new CFTC capabilities use them for own books of business – and not as infrastructure-as-a-service even in face of significant demand).  Together, these services address every pain point in the tokenization lifecycle and provide full horizontal interoperability, and opportunities to cross-sell capabilities as needs evolve and we work with our clients to provide comprehensive solutions for sticky and evergreen relationships. Our customers run the gamut – from broker dealer and other financial institutions to asset managers, crypto platforms and blockchain ecosystems.  Each has specific or full-stack needs for our services depending on the product they are looking to support.  One theme is our infrastructure, technology and footprint passing rigorous due diligence with top organizations.
Our near-term execution list illustrates the diversified demand base. A couple of off-the-top examples.  Goldman Sachs bringing a traditional product to tokenized settlement rails.  ICE using us as design partner in their tokenized public equities marketplace.  Uphold, a 10m customer crypto platform using us as a vehicle for their US tokenized securities market entry. We have also been actively pre-selling capacity on our derivatives/prediction markets/crypto infrastructure platform to global and US clients looking to offer perps and other products.  Overall, in a long sales cycle industry, our revenue pipeline has never been bigger – organically and with the strong industry tailwinds.  Like any infrastructure, there is an obvious fixed cost.  But that is also our moat.   This is where our diversified strategy – with securities and derivatives verticals and a range of clients – is particularly critical.  We are not exclusively correlated to the pace and scale of tokenization of public equities, for example, or other products.  That is another core difference.   Couldn’t be prouder of @tZERO!