Tokenization firm Securitize has expanded its regulatory footprint in the U.S. by registering as a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA). This strategic move comes in response to the growing appetite among institutional investors for tokenized asset investments and aims to bolster the company’s position in this emerging market.
CoinDesk reported on Monday that Securitize Capital, a subsidiary of Securitize, successfully registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as an investment advisor.
This latest accreditation adds to Securitize’s existing portfolio of licenses, which includes broker-dealer and alternative trading systems (ATS) operations, as well as transfer agent and fund management services.
Securitize stated that this development positions them to offer comprehensive services to institutions exploring on-chain financial strategies.
The company has already made significant strides in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space, having established a permissioned lending vault infrastructure in collaboration with the decentralized lending protocol Euler. This setup enables the use of tokenized assets, such as VanEck’s tokenized treasury fund VBILL, as collateral while ensuring compliance with investor eligibility requirements.
Securitize has cemented its position as a frontrunner in the tokenization infrastructure sector through partnerships with global asset management giants including BlackRock, Apollo, KKR, and VanEck. The firm is responsible for issuing BlackRock’s tokenized money market fund (MMF) BUIDL and is currently developing infrastructure for tokenized securities trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
It’s worth noting that SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce has previously suggested that certain virtual asset vaults and lending services could potentially fall under investment advisory regulations, depending on their structure and operational methods.
Virtual asset vaults, a type of DeFi product, automatically allocate user-deposited funds across lending markets and various yield-generating strategies through smart contracts.
The application of these services has recently expanded beyond the DeFi ecosystem, with mainstream platforms like Coinbase and Robinhood now offering yield-generating products on customer deposits.
In related news, Securitize made its debut on the U.S. stock market earlier this month under the ticker symbol SECZ. However, the company’s stock price has experienced a significant decline of approximately 40% since its July listing.