January 28 marks a watershed date for the future of digital finance. In a coordinated move, divisions of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released a comprehensive framework for classifying tokenized securities.
On the same day, Vlad Tenev, CEO of Robinhood, publicly raised the challenge for mass tokenization of the stock market, marking a clear dividing line between past frauds in the industry and a regulated future.
The SEC Framework: Clarity on Custody and Synthetics
The "Statement on Tokenised Securities" issued by the SEC is not just a technical document, but a systematic mapping of how federal laws apply to blockchain. The agency has divided the assets into two macrocategories:
- Tokenised Securities sponsored by the issuer: In this scenario, companies issue their shares directly in the form of tokens. Here, the blockchain acts as the primary registry and the transfer of the token coincides with the legal transfer of ownership.
- Third-party sponsored tokenized securities: External entities create tokens that replicate existing shares. This category has been further subdivided into custodial models (where tokens represent an indirect interest in deposited real shares) and synthetic models (offering only price exposure, without ownership rights).
Mirror Protocol: The Shadow of the Past and Do Kwon's Condemnation
The need for such clarity emerged powerfully with the Mirror Protocol case, now referred to as the 'dark precedent' of synthetic assets. Launched by Do Kwon in 2020 on the blockchain Terra, Mirror promised democratic access to stocks such as Apple and Tesla. However, the project turned out to be a colossal fraud.
According to the December 2025 conviction, Do Kwon has manipulated prices via bots and inflated adoption data. The collapse of UST and LUNA in 2022 pulverised over $40 billion in savings.
Kwon's escape ended with his arrest in Montenegro and a 15-year prison sentence. The SEC's framework now strikes at precisely that model of 'sham decentralisation' used by Kwon to evade the laws.
Robinhood and the challenge of Settlement in real time
Unlike Mirror, Robinhood positions itself as a regulated actor. Already present in Europe with over 2,000 token shares, the company operates under MiFID II regulations. Vlad Tenev chose the anniversary of the GameStop crisis to plead the case for blockchain, identifying the 'T+2' settlement system (two business days to close a transaction) as an anachronistic risk.
"T+1 is still too long," said Tenev, pointing out how weekends can extend the wait to four days. Robinhood's vision envisages a shift from the synthetic to the custodial model in the coming months, allowing investors to physically hold their equity tokens, using them for borrowing or staking in the DeFi, eliminating the risk of total loss of capital in the event of platform insolvency.
Towards the CLARITY Act
Although the SEC document is not legally binding, it sets the course for future lawmakers. Tenev urged Congress to pass the CLARITY Act macrocategories, a law that would prevent future commissions from reversing the progress made towards the digitisation of markets.
In this scenario, tokenization is no longer just a technological experiment, but an infrastructural necessity. While Mirror Protocol represents the failure of illegality masquerading as innovation, the new SEC framework and the Robinhood push aim to transform Wall Street into a 24/7, transparent and finally instantaneous marketplace.
