A Nasdaq-listed fintech company led by a former FTX Europe executive is planning to bring tokenized U.S. stocks trading onto blockchain rails under the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) new regulatory framework.
Perpetuals.com (PDC), headed by CEO Patrick Gruhn, filed a notice on Wednesday that it plans to operate a tokenized securities venue under the SEC's five-year "innovation exemption," which allows certain marketplaces to trade U.S. stocks on public blockchains without registering as traditional securities exchanges.
The move makes Perpetuals.com the second company to pursue a marketplace under the exemption, following OKXICE, a joint venture between crypto exchange OKX and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) parent Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which last week filed plans for round-the-clock trading of more than 60 tokenized U.S. stocks.
The exemption, introduced in September, allows certain marketplaces to trade U.S. stocks on public blockchains without registering as traditional securities exchanges. It requires tokens to carry the same shareholder rights as ordinary shares, including dividends and voting rights, while giving companies 30 days to object to having their shares traded on a tokenized securities venue.
The move marks a return to tokenized equities for Gruhn and his team, who helped develop some of the earliest stock-linked tokens offered by crypto exchanges including Binance and FTX in 2021.
Gruhn co-founded Digital Assets AG, a Swiss-based tokenization company that worked with German investment firm CM-Equity to bring digital tokens linked to stocks such as Tesla and Coinbase to crypto traders. Digital Assets AG was later acquired by FTX Group, becoming part of FTX Europe, which Gruhn led before the crypto exchange group's collapse in November 2022.
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