According to CoinDesk, tZERO, a financial technology company backed by U.S. online retailer Overstock, announced on Tuesday that it had received approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to become the second U.S. company to engage in digital assets. A special purpose broker-dealer (SPBD) in the securities custody business, following a path previously pioneered by Prometheum.
Special purpose broker-dealers as regulated by the SEC will be allowed to custody customers’ digital asset securities, however, this ability is facing a wide-ranging legal dispute between the crypto industry and the SEC. The SEC considers most crypto tokens to be securities, and to have crypto securities under custody, tZERO and Prometheum would have to treat the tokens as securities, while the industry (including many issuers) has objected to this label.
"Our special purpose broker-dealer status will allow us to provide issuers, investors and other market participants with a safe, secure and regulated digital brokerage," tZERO CEO David Goone said in a press release. Asset custody and other new innovative products.”
The company, which is backed by Overstock and New York Stock Exchange parent Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), said it would open services for assets including private securities, securitized real estate, art and sports assets as soon as early next year. And will start with "the complete digitization of tZERO's Series A special stock securities (TZROP)".
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