The San Francisco-based startup Dinari has become the first company in the US to receive SEC broker-dealer approval for trading tokenized stocks - a milestone for blockchain-based financial products.
The tokenization of real-world equities has long been considered a vision - now it's becoming a regulatory reality. With the first-ever approval of a US broker-dealer for trading tokenized stocks, FinTech company Dinari is opening a new chapter in the capital markets. The so-called dShares represent tokens backed 1:1 by US stocks, which will be traded and settled on public blockchains - nearly in real time.
On-chain instead of T+2: rethinking efficiency
Tokenized stocks offer more than just technological novelty. They provide tangible benefits over traditional securities processes:
- Near-instant settlement: Instead of T+2 settlement, smart contracts enable transfer of ownership within seconds after execution.
- Lower costs: Automated processes reduce fees for clearing and custody.
- 24/7 markets: Trading is possible around the clock without exchange hours, with global liquidity.
- Fractional ownership: Even expensive shares can be divided into the smallest units, making them retail-friendly.
Dinari does not plan to offer its services directly to retail customers but aims to integrate them via a white-label API into existing broker and FinTech platforms. This allows traditional providers to seamlessly include on-chain assets in their offerings - without needing their own blockchain infrastructure or user interface.
Regulation: Signaling effect for the market
Approval by the SEC and FINRA is more than just a company milestone. It sends a strong signal: US regulators are open to modernizing the securities market through blockchain technology. While competitors like Coinbase, Kraken, and Securitize are still waiting for regulatory green lights, Dinari has achieved the first formal breakthrough.
Dinari is also working on open ERC‑20 contract specifications and collaborating with regulators. If this model proves successful, it could serve as a blueprint for an international ecosystem of tokenized financial products - including integration into DeFi risk pools and institutional treasury applications.
Industry analysts see this development as a kind of “writing on the wall”: the shift toward on-chain equities could become a dominant trend in the coming years - including native IPOs, tokenized dividends, and automated reporting via smart contracts.
Challenges remain
Despite regulatory progress, structural hurdles persist:
- Illiquid secondary market: Trading of tokenized stocks remains thin, limiting price discovery and arbitrage opportunities.
- Regulatory complexity: Many US securities laws - such as those covering voting rights or custody obligations - are designed for centralized structures and are difficult to apply to decentralized systems.
- Lack of global standards: Technical and legal interoperability is still lacking, limiting cross-border use cases.
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From early protocol failures to regulatory breakthrough
Earlier attempts like Mirror Protocol or Synthetix xStocks failed due to lack of regulatory clarity. In contrast, Dinari links traditional market structures with blockchain logic - under clear rules. If the model proves viable, native on-chain stock issuance could soon become a reality.
While the infrastructure is now in place, the key question remains: Which established players will integrate early - and who will be left behind? One thing seems certain: The tokenized stock is no longer a concept. It’s a reality.
