Uyeda Demands SEC Unblock Tokenization Revolution—Will 2026 Be the Year Wall Street Finally Gets It?
SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda just threw a regulatory grenade. His message? The Commission's foot-dragging on digital asset rules is strangling the trillion-dollar promise of tokenization in its crib.
The Innovation Jam
Forget vague promises—Uyeda points to a concrete logjam. Clear rules for tokenizing real-world assets, from treasury bonds to real estate, remain MIA. That uncertainty keeps traditional finance giants watching from the sidelines while the tech builds without them. It's a classic case of regulatory paralysis stifling a market poised to redefine ownership and liquidity.
Beyond the Crypto Wild West
This isn't about memecoins. Tokenization cuts the red tape of traditional finance—slashing settlement times from days to seconds and bypassing costly intermediaries. Imagine a world where a piece of a skyscraper or a masterpiece trades as easily as a stock. That's the efficiency play Wall Street claims to love, yet somehow can't seem to embrace without a 500-page rulebook first.
The Clock is Ticking
While U.S. regulators debate, global financial hubs from Singapore to the EU are charging ahead with their own frameworks. The risk isn't just missed opportunity—it's ceding the architecture of the next financial system to overseas markets. Uyeda's push is a warning: adapt or become a backwater.
The ball is in the SEC's court. Will they clear the path, or will 2026 be remembered as the year finance chose committee meetings over compound growth? After all, nothing moves slower than a regulator's pen—except maybe a banker's willingness to disrupt their own fee structure.
Uyeda hopes for fair, orderly, and efficient tokenized securities markets
The Commissioner further asserted that by moving forward with such applications, the agency is signaling its openness to this “modernization,” provided it adheres to longstanding regulations governing the achievement of the objectives of securities markets. Tokenization can help modernize capital markets by making ownership more visible and speeding up settlements.
“I hope that these exemptive order applications are not endpoints, but rather waypoints on a journey toward markets that are more fair, orderly, and efficient due to new innovations.”
–Mark Uyeda, Commissioner at the U.S. SEC
According to the Commissioner, tokenization addresses current challenges in corporate actions and shareholder identification. He also notes that the Commission needs to continually find ways to incorporate speed and visibility into tokenized securities markets. The agency recently said that tokenized securities will remain securities under U.S. law, even if classified otherwise in crypto-ledger systems, according to Cryptopolitan.
Meanwhile, Uyeda implies that the agency has literally (almost) become a toothless watchdog under President Donald Trump. He states that the U.S. SEC’s engagement efforts have been limited to staff statements, roundtables, and public comment files. Under the TRUMP administration, the U.S. SEC has stopped using enforcement primarily to exercise its authority and express views on new developments. In that sense, Uyeda believes that the agency has returned to providing sub-regulatory guidance and exploring exemptive relief to allow limited-scope Commission action.
Coinbase CEO believes tokenized securities will soon go mainstream
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong recently emphasized that tokenized securities could soon become the norm, noting that most processes can be automated. According to Armstrong, tokenization is not necessarily a “scary technology,” but rather a better way to digitize and transfer value across capital markets. He adds that the convenience can be cost-effective over time because traders can access all asset classes, including tokenized securities, under familiar platforms.
The Coinbase CEO also pointed out that tokenized stocks will soon be “huge” when the wave of blockchain-based versions of traditional stocks becomes available to traders 24/7. Coinbase has been urging regulators to consider including tokenized securities as trading products since 2021, arguing that blockchains can MOVE stocks faster than traditional rails.
Meanwhile, platforms like Circle, Superstate, Ondo Finance, and Securitize are leading the way in bringing simplified, digitized forms of U.S. government bonds onto the blockchain. Token Terminal data shows that the market cap of tokenized U.S. Treasuries has surpassed $10 billion.
Ondo Finance recently encouraged the U.S. SEC to support multiple tokenization models to expand access to existing pathways in the U.S. market structure, while preserving investor choice. The Commission’s Chair, Paul Atkins, and Commissioner Hester Pierce responded by discussing how the agency should approach tokenization across direct, intermediate, and wrapped models. ONDO believes the world is aligning around tokenization and that 2026 could be the year of tokenization.
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