The US tokenised equities market is beginning to attract its first contenders under the Securities and Exchange Commission’s new experimental framework. Perpetuals.com Group, a Nasdaq-listed fintech trading under the ticker PDC, plans to launch a trading venue for US equity securities represented in tokenised form, leveraging the new innovation exemption introduced by the SEC.
The project is led by Patrick Gruhn, the group’s chief executive officer and former head of FTX Europe. The company does not yet have an operational platform: the stated timeline places any potential launch no earlier than mid-November, subject to the completion of technological development and compliance requirements. It is a substantial distinction in a segment where announcements, prototypes, and services actually available to investors often move at very different speeds.
Nevertheless, Perpetuals becomes the second publicly disclosed initiative aiming to leverage the new US framework to bring tokenisation to the core of the stock market. The first is the joint venture announced by OKX and Intercontinental Exchange, the group that controls the New York Stock Exchange. The entry of a Nasdaq-listed issuer adds competition to a race that has so far played out primarily among crypto platforms, infrastructure providers, and traditional financial players.
A regulatory test for securities that remain financial instruments
In this case, tokenisation does not turn a stock into an unregulated cryptocurrency. The goal is to use a token as a digital representation of exposure to US securities within a framework that must uphold the safeguards required for the securities market. The central issue is therefore not merely the blockchain or the distribution channel: custody, recordkeeping of positions, execution mechanisms, investor protection, and clarity regarding the link between the token and the underlying asset are what truly matter.
The new SEC exemption is significant precisely because it offers a regulatory pathway dedicated to experimentation. Perpetuals intends to use it to build a US market, rather than merely offering equity-linked products from other jurisdictions or through channels typical of the crypto world. The American framework is more burdensome, but it could be decisive in gaining credibility with intermediaries and investors accustomed to the safeguards of regulated markets.
For stock exchanges and brokers, what is at stake is the evolution of infrastructure, not the mere graphical digitization of a security. If tokenized trading proves capable of operating with reliable procedures and in compliance with regulations, it could prompt the industry to rethink certain steps in the post-trade chain: reconciliation, transfers, custody, and cash management. However, the model will have to demonstrate measurable benefits without weakening controls that are essential in equity markets.
From FTX's past to a new listed vehicle
Gruhn brings to the project experience gained prior to the collapse of the FTX exchange. He was co-founder of Digital Assets AG, a company that developed equity-linked tokens used by crypto exchanges including Binance and FTX. Digital Assets AG was later acquired by the FTX group. This precedent helps explain management's specialization in the sector, but makes particularly close scrutiny of the new project inevitable in terms of governance, asset segregation, and operational controls.
The choice to operate through Perpetuals.com, a company listed on Nasdaq, also changes the context compared to many initiatives born exclusively within the digital asset ecosystem. A listed group must engage with the stock market as an issuer as well: investors, analysts, and authorities will be able to assess the timeline, costs, risks, and results of the plan. Listing does not eliminate technical or regulatory challenges, but it makes the industrial execution of the project more visible.
This aspect carries particular weight in the wake of the FTX case, which left the crypto sector demanding higher standards for custody, transparency, and conflict-of-interest management. Perpetuals will therefore need to clearly distinguish its offering for trading tokenized financial instruments from less-regulated models that have historically referenced US equities without necessarily providing the same rights, protections, or market mechanisms as shares traded on traditional venues.
Competition with ICE and OKX raises the bar
The presence of the joint venture between OKX and ICE immediately makes the regulatory window competitive. ICE brings control of the NYSE and deep-rooted expertise in market infrastructure; OKX, by contrast, represents a major digital asset platform. Perpetuals thus faces a potential rival equipped with complementary brands, capital, and expertise, even though the announcement of the joint venture does not yet equate to an operational service.
For the market, competition can serve a useful purpose: forcing projects to clarify how trades are settled, which investors are eligible to access them, what liquidity is available, and how corporate actions such as dividends, stock splits, or extraordinary transactions are handled. It is these details, far more than the “tokenized” label, that will determine whether a platform can integrate with the standards demanded by US capital markets.
Questions remain that the announcement leaves unanswered. There has been no indication of which securities will be available at launch, the overall scope of the offering, the target client base, or the concrete settlement mechanics. Nor is it possible to establish, based on the available information, whether the service will deliver cost or trading-hour advantages over conventional trading. Any assessment of its commercial impact must therefore remain cautious.
The next milestone is operational. Perpetuals must complete technical integrations and compliance procedures, necessary steps before trading can open; mid-November is merely the earliest communicated date. If the launch goes through, the project will offer one of the first concrete tests of the new SEC exemption's ability to attract market initiatives without waiving the requirements inherent to securities. If, however, the process takes longer, it will highlight just how complex it is to translate interest in tokenization into a framework ready to manage real capital and real investors.
