Blockchain Association Urges SEC Not to Let Incumbents Slow the Future of Tokenized Markets

Washington, D.C. (April 6, 2026) – Today, Blockchain Association submitted a response to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rebutting Citadel Securities’ arguments against tokenized U.S. equity securities and decentralized finance trading protocols. The filing is part of Blockchain Association’s broader push to advance a clear, workable policy framework for tokenization, following CEO Summer Mersinger’s testimony last month and the launch of BA’s tokenization workstream.

In short, Citadel is asking the SEC to regulate the blockchain rails behind tokenized markets as though those rails were the same as traditional financial intermediaries. Blockchain Association’s response explains why that is the wrong legal framework and the wrong policy choice.

Tokenization is the process of representing traditional financial assets on blockchain networks so ownership, transfer, and related market functions can operate on more modern, programmable rails. Just as the transition to electronic trading in the 1990s made financial markets faster and more efficient, tokenization represents the next phase in the modernization of capital market infrastructure.

Tokenization can help support faster settlement, stronger transparency, more resilient market infrastructure, and more efficient movement of assets and collateral across the financial system. It also advances two bipartisan policy goals: expanding access to investment opportunities for ordinary Americans and keeping U.S. capital markets the most competitive in the world.

Blockchain Association’s filing makes a straightforward point: securities laws regulate intermediaries. They do not automatically turn neutral infrastructure into an exchange, broker, or dealer simply because that infrastructure is part of a tokenized market. Validators, autonomous smart contracts, non-custodial software, and other blockchain-based tools do not become regulated middlemen just because they help power upgraded financial rails.

The digital asset industry is not asking for a free pass. Tokenized securities are still securities. The question is whether the SEC will apply the law in a way that reflects how modern infrastructure actually works.

“Tokenization is about bringing better technology to the most important capital markets in the world,” said Summer Mersinger, CEO of Blockchain Association. “This filing reflects Blockchain Association’s broader commitment to advancing tokenization policy in Washington and ushering in a market evolution that can make U.S. finance more efficient, more resilient, and more globally competitive.”

Blockchain Association’s filing also explains that the SEC already has tools it can use to support responsible progress, including exemptive relief and other iterative pathways the Commission has historically used when new market structure technologies emerge.

As policymakers and regulators focus more closely on tokenization, the United States faces a clear choice: shape the next generation of market infrastructure here at home or watch it develop elsewhere.