Perpetuals.com follows the OKX-ICE venture into the SEC's tokenized-stock exemption

Two filers is a small sample, and the two differ in almost every way. One is an exchange-group partnership. The other is a Nasdaq-listed company that reported $65.2 million in total assets at the end of April ^[16] and a $17.6 million net loss for its fiscal year ^[17]. That loss equals about 27% of those assets ^[19].

We think that spread is the best evidence that the exemption, introduced in September ^[2], is being tried. It has drawn both a joint venture of OKX and the NYSE's parent and a small operator ^[11]. The counter-case is that a notice is a cheap option. Perpetuals.com has set no firm launch date ^[5], and mid-November is only the earliest trading could begin ^[4].

The design concentrates control. Kephas Corporation, a Delaware subsidiary, would operate the venue ^[13], the first chain is one the company developed itself ^[14], and each pool would pair one tokenized stock with a form of USDC ^[15]. Depth in a pool depends on how much USDC and how many stock tokens someone deposits. The company has a $17.6 million loss on $65.2 million of assets ^[17][16]. For it, funding pools across a list anywhere near the 60-plus stocks in the OKX-ICE plan ^[12] would be a stretch unless outside providers fund them.

Patrick Gruhn has built this kind of product before, in a form the new rules would not allow. Binance's stock tokens, which his Digital Assets AG helped develop, gave price exposure without voting rights. Binance dropped them in July 2021 amid regulatory scrutiny, including BaFin's concern over a missing securities prospectus ^[8]. The exemption requires the same shareholder rights as ordinary shares, dividends and voting included ^[3]. "The Perpetuals team has long been trailblazers in tokenization, and this expansion into the U.S. allows us to further utilize our platform and deep expertise," Gruhn said in a statement ^[9].

Issuers could use their 30-day right to object ^[3], and a thin list would leave the pools little to price. Or attention could split. The company already supplies trading technology to a Cyprus marketplace licensed under MiFID II and authorized under MiCA in August ^[10]. It also has a Datavault AI agreement for tokenized copper, gold and other assets with more than $300 million in targeted issuance ^[6]. That is at least 4.6 times its total assets ^[18], though it sets a target flow against a balance-sheet stock and so is a gauge of scale only. A U.S. equity venue would be a third project for a company that lost $17.6 million ^[17].

We would call the thesis wrong if mid-November passes with no new date, or if issuer objections arrive before the first pool opens.