This morning after the failure of the Clarity Act, I remembered the first real conversation I ever had about the future of blockchain and smart contracts in summer of 2013. @dwr said to me that he could envision a world where the stock markets moved onto public blockchains. Seemed crazy but not impossible. I was headed to go run the largest stock market in the world, the NYSE. I invested $10m in Coinbase as a bit of a hedge and to make sure I wasn’t missing a big trend. The Clarity Act originally came about when crypto volumes and the number of interesting tokens were booming. Let’s face it, we all thought we were headed towards a world with tons of important coins. Today the future of pure crypto is more circumscribed: bitcoin, a couple dozen important layer 1’s/2’s and a handful of productive projects. But the future of blockchain technology is far bigger and more interesting than most people foresaw even a year ago. In particular, tokenized securities including equity and debt are moving to public blockchains. The current projections are all way too low. There will be $150 trillion of assets on chain in 2035 and maybe sooner. Issuers will be in control of this transition and the issuers will have benefits that seemed Jetsons-esque a few years ago: the ability to know their holders; to reward them with rewards, discounts & enhanced voting rights and dividends; and to end naked short-selling. And then there is what is genuinely new. Lower cost structures unlock retail lending products that were previously institutional-only. Equities as tokens become building blocks: bundle them, recombine them, create investment products that simply couldn't exist before. 24/7, settlement, and transparency are table stakes. The more interesting story is what's next. Clarity Act doesn’t have much to do with any of this tbh. On my call with management this morning I lamented that we didnt get Clarity Act yesterday in particular because I thought tradfi big banks would invest more in crypto if they felt the security of federal legislation. But then I asked the team if not getting the bill hurts our existing business in a material way. The answer was no. In fact, some of the stuff in the bill scared me a bit like the prohibitions on stablecoin operators paying rewards. So, like, goodbye Clarity Act, we hardly knew you. With the world we are in in 2026 and not 2024, CLARITY still matters. Durable legislation would give the digital asset industry greater certainty. But even with legislation, the real work of implementation happens at the agencies, and agencies can move faster. For tokenized securities, the @SECGov innovation exemption and @CFTC rule changes may prove more consequential in the near term. They are where the role of the issuer, the issuer-sponsored token and the transfer agent will start to take shape. @Bullish will do its part. We will tokenize 3,000 issuers with the real thing: issuer tokens where the token is the stock itself and not any of this complicated stuff everyone else is writing white papers and drawing diagrams about. Here is our white paper “token = stock.” This is what the issuers and the investors want. I’ll tell you publicly what people are saying privately: issuer sponsored tokens are the best answer, not this soup of synthetic derivative products. Back to working to build the best institutional-grade systems for issuers in the world

I went through the SEC’s proposed TA rule. The SEC is moving at warp speed to embrace the modernization of markets and a future with a blockchain-based infrastructure. I also appreciate that they are embracing the important role that transfer agents play in modern markets.

Issuers HATE synthetic tokens. Since we announced @Equiniti acquisition we have been out talking to as many issuers as possible and are yet to find a single one who likes people marketing synthetics as “stock” of their company. One CFO of a well known company. told me last week they sent a cease and desist letter earlier that morning. But synthetics have at least proven demand for tokens. The next wave is issuer sponsored tokens. It is a big big wave.

Robinhood apparently is behind an effort related to “tokenized real-world assets including Stock Tokens” for AMC Entertainment (and supposedly 190+ other companies). They are not registered under U.S. securities laws !!!!!! I find this practice to be contemptible, outrageous, disgusting, detestable, inexcusable, vile. How can it possibly be legal? We have no connection to this at all, and do not condone it in any way. We immediately are going to have our outside securities counsel look into this. Stock Tokens are not registered under U.S. securities laws and may not be offered, sold, or delivered, directly or indirectly, in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons. Offers and sales of Stock Tokens are subject to restrictions in other jurisdictions, including, without limitation, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland. A full list of the jurisdictions in which offers or sales are restricted or prohibited is available here: Robinhood Assets (Jersey) Limited is a private limited company incorporated in Jersey, with its registered address at First Floor, La Chasse Chambers, Ten La Chasse, St. Helier, JE2 4UE, Jersey. The Issuer is registered under the registration number 162428. Stock Tokens have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended from time to time (the "Securities Act") or with any securities regulatory authority of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States. Stock Tokens may not be offered, sold or delivered within the United States to, or for the account or benefit of U.S. Persons (as defined in Regulation S under the Securities Act ("Regulation S")), and (ii) may be offered, sold or otherwise delivered at any time only outside of the United States and to transferees that are not U.S. Persons (as defined in Regulation S)…. ©2026 Robinhood Markets, Inc. All rights reserved.

Joined @SquawkStreet this morning to talk Bullish Q2 earnings (revenue beat, guidance up), tokenized stock trading, and the crypto regulatory picture. Lots to cover, excited for where we’re going, interview below!

Regulated infrastructure isn't the enemy of innovation. It's the prerequisite for scale. Last week bullish received GFSC approval to bring the benefits of tokenization to securities markets. End-to-end, regulated, global.

My friend and partner Frank Baker making the case for blockchain's potential to bring underserved communities into the financial system. Recognizing @Sen_Alsobrooks for her leadership on the policy that can make it real.

It turns out these synthetic tokens were also not authentic shares of SpaceX. This is ridiculous. Just require that if for someone to say they are offering token shares, either they are actual shares issued as tokens by the issuers themselves or the knuckleheads issuing the tokens have filed with the SEC or comparable to offer a derivative. It’s not that hard.

In other synthetic token news, an exchange says they can’t get their synthetic token holders real exposure for a company going public on another exchange because, well, the synthetic tokens turned out to be not real shares. Or something like that. Maybe tokens should actually be approved by the issuer and therefore be the actual underlying share. Just a thought.

Right now sitting here in the United States, I can log onto a number of trading platforms that are open to connect to US citizens, I can connect an anonymous wallet and trade synthetic tokens on stocks such as Bullish with zero kyc/AML and no one will ever know. I could buy synthetic Bullish tokens completely anonymously the day before a big positive news announcement. Do I have this all correct?

Stopped by @TBPN and was asked about the state of crypto. The warm-up act is over. Genius is done. Clarity is hopefully coming soon. I’ve got my sights set on the $270 trillion global securities market. Tokenization is the next act.