Nasdaq-listed Perpetuals.com (PDC) said on Oct. 14 it plans to offer tokenized US equities, and that it has published a notice of intent to rely on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Innovation Exemption for Tokenized Securities Venues.
The exemption the SEC issued in September gives trading venues five years of conditional relief to run National Market System stocks onchain. Perpetuals is one of the first companies to say publicly that it is using it, which turns a framework into a test of what the conditions actually permit.
The company’s forward-looking statements say the plan depends on “completion of the applicable 30-day period following publication of the Tokenized Securities Venue Notice and compliance with SEC exemption conditions,” along with technical implementation and user adoption. No launch date is given. The notice is not posted on the company’s homepage; Perpetuals has been asked where it was published.
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The 2021 Tokenized Stocks
Perpetuals says its founding team created the first regulatory-approved tokenized stocks in 2021, which Binance, FTX and Bittrex used to offer round-the-clock stock trading, and which delivered pre-IPO contracts for Coinbase, Airbnb and Robinhood. Chief executive Patrick Gruhn previously headed FTX Europe. The company’s own site describes its founders as including “the former Head of FTX Europe.”
“The Perpetuals team has long been trailblazers in tokenization, and this expansion into the U.S. allows us to further utilize our platform and deep expertise,” Gruhn said in the announcement. The release carries no other quote.
What the Platform Runs On
The US plan builds on an existing European tokenization platform. Perpetuals’ technology is used by PM MTF Ltd, an EU-licensed multilateral trading facility operating under MiFID II, MiCA, DORA and EMIR, and the company sells white-label trading services to partners.
The announcement follows an agreement with Datavault AI to tokenize more than $300 million in physical commodities. Its consumer product, UpsideOnly, is marketed as a trading and prediction platform on which users “never lose money” and share in trading profits without risking their own capital. The release describes that claim without explaining the mechanism, and the company has been asked how the product is funded.
Perpetuals says tokenized equities on its platform would carry round-the-clock trading, near-instant settlement and fractional ownership while holders retain dividend and voting rights. The release does not say which blockchain the tokens would be issued on, who would custody the underlying shares, or how the voting rights would be exercised. Those questions have gone to the company’s press contact.
The SEC delayed and narrowed the exemption before issuing it, after industry pushback over the conditions attached.