Tokenised Stocks: When Shares Meet Blockchain

Imagine buying a share today and, instead of waiting for the traditional market infrastructure to process every step, that ownership is recorded on a blockchain. On September 17, 2026, the U.S. SEC introduced a five-year exemption for certain platforms trading tokenised stocks. Eligible tokens must represent genuine securities and provide basic shareholder rights such as voting and dividends; synthetic tokens that only track stock prices are excluded. Why does this matter? 🔹 Potential 24/7 trading 🔹 Faster settlement 🔹 Fractional ownership 🔹 Greater digital accessibility 🔹 Possible integration between traditional finance and crypto infrastructure But the bigger question is still ownership: **Who actually holds the underlying share, how are investor rights protected, and what happens if the platform fails?** India is already testing a related idea. SEBI and RBI launched **Demat 2.0**, a pilot using distributed-ledger technology for tokenised corporate bonds, with CDSL, NSDL, NSE, BSE and other institutions participating. CDSL

because depositories sit close to the infrastructure through which securities are held and settled. This is a thematic connection, **not a prediction that CDSL will benefit financially**. The story is still being written: blockchain may change how financial assets move, but regulation, custody, interoperability and investor protection will determine how far tokenisation actually goes. Tokenisation can modernise securities infrastructure, but ownership rights, custody, settlement, regulation and interoperability remain critical before widespread adoption. #Tokenisation #Blockchain #CapitalMarkets #DigitalSecurities #FinTech #CDSL #IndianMarkets