The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Reserve Board (FED), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) have issued joint guidance to clarify the treatment of tokenized equity capital.
According to the federal agency, eligible tokenized stocks must receive the same capital treatment as non-tokenized stocks. provided, however, that you are entitled to the same legal rights under applicable law.
According to an FAQ document published by the regulator, capital regulations for banking organizations Technically neutral. This means that the technology used to issue or trade digital assets generally does not affect their regulatory treatment or the capital requirements that banks must maintain on their balance sheets.
The announcement comes in response to growing interest in using distributed ledger technology (DLT) to represent ownership of securities. According to the regulator, tokenization may take place by expressing interest in tokenized shares issued through traditional processes. Or publish assets directly on a decentralized network.
The guidance states that derivatives that refer to eligible tokenized securities should be treated for capital purposes in the same way as derivatives that refer to assets in non-tokenized form. Similarly, the treatment of stocks does not depend on whether the tokens are issued on a permissioned or permissionless blockchain.
Therefore, they believe that if tokenized shares meet the definition of financial collateral, Recognized as a means of reducing credit risk The same discounts apply to traditional forms of securities.
This regulatory clarification comes at the time of the expansion of these financial products. CriptoNoticias reports that the market capitalization of tokenized stocks has increased by 832% in the past six months, according to data from the Token Terminal platform.
By declaring technical neutrality, federal regulators eliminate uncertainty regarding the capital reserves that banks must maintain. This will accelerate the integration of distributed ledger technology in the U.S. financial sector. As long as the bank maintains sound risk management practices Comply with current ownership and management laws.