Solid tokenization & @tZERO chat from @SavinoVaness
🌊 Infrastructure drives liquidity
🏛️ Institutions lead RWA adoption
🛤️ Blockchain rails going mainstream
🌉 Hybrid models bridge markets
🔐 Regulation clarity unlocks scale
How Crypto Compliance Needs to Evolve to Deal With RWAs and Tokenization.
With @SavinoVaness , Chief Legal Officer at @tZERO , sharing insights on how tokenization is shifting from early experiments with illiquid assets toward highly liquid instruments like treasuries and equities.
In this episode, we discuss:
- How has tZERO shifted its core business model to provide end-to-end "infrastructure as a service" for tokenized securities?
- Why did early tokenization efforts fail to make illiquid assets like real estate liquid, and how did treasuries become the true "killer app"?
- What are the key structural differences between native on-chain tokens, security entitlements, and synthetic wrappers?
- How are updated SEC guidance and single-license regulatory permissions shaping institutional adoption and compliance?
- How is tZERO expanding beyond securities into CFTC-regulated derivatives, event contracts, and global partnerships?
The full interview is available on my YouTube and podcast platforms:
Spotify: bit.ly/4z6c72M
Apple: bit.ly/4siE6d0
Youtube: bit.ly/4yWgoVX
This!
✅ Their brand
✅ Their clients
✅ Their technology
🤝 @tZERO's infrastructure
🏛️ Now scale that across financial mkts
We've spent a lot of time recently discussing @tZERO 's CFTC approvals and the opportunities opening up on the derivatives side.
But today's announcement with @temple_ny highlights an entirely different part of what tZERO is building.
The SEC-regulated securities side.
Temple Digital Group has developed its own trading technology on @CantonNetwork , including a matching engine, order books, request-for-quote (RFQ) capabilities, and settlement infrastructure.
Temple has already executed over $1.6B in transaction volume on Canton.
So why bring tZERO into the picture?
Because building the technology to trade tokenized securities and having the regulated infrastructure to operate that marketplace are two very different things.
Under this agreement, tZERO Securities will serve as Temple's registered broker-dealer and Alternative Trading System (ATS) operator, providing regulated operating technology, client onboarding, and transaction services.
Essentially, Temple brings its trading technology, platform, and clients.
tZERO brings the regulated securities infrastructure needed to support that business.
Now think about what this means for tZERO's business model.
tZERO doesn't necessarily need every investor trading directly through its own platform.
Instead, it can provide the infrastructure that allows other companies to operate their own marketplaces.
Their brand. Their technology. Their clients.
tZERO's regulated infrastructure.
And that's where I believe the bigger opportunity exists.
How many other financial institutions, asset managers, trading platforms, and technology companies could eventually benefit from these same capabilities as tokenization expands?
Think about the broader financial industry.
Financial institutions like Fidelity, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and State Street.
Asset managers like BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, Apollo, and Hamilton Lane.
Trading platforms like Robinhood, Coinbase, Kraken, and Webull.
I'm not suggesting these companies are negotiating with tZERO or that they all need its services.
Several already have substantial infrastructure of their own.
But these are examples of the types of institutions and markets where tokenization is creating new opportunities and infrastructure requirements.
Every one of these sectors faces some version of the same question:
How do we bring traditional financial assets onto blockchain-based markets while maintaining the regulatory protections, trading capabilities, and operational infrastructure those markets require?
Some institutions will build everything themselves.
Others will find it more efficient to partner with companies that already have the necessary regulatory capabilities and infrastructure.
And that's exactly where I believe tZERO is positioning itself to compete.
Look at the bigger picture.
Siebert. Dinari. Now Temple.
Different companies.
Different business models.
Different opportunities.
But all examples of how tZERO can extend its infrastructure and services beyond its own marketplace.
Now imagine that model expanding across dozens of institutions and platforms.
Instead of relying solely on trading activity generated through its own marketplace, tZERO could potentially generate revenue by providing infrastructure and services to multiple businesses across the financial ecosystem.
Of course, the economics will depend on how these agreements are structured, the fees tZERO collects, and the transaction volume they ultimately generate.
Temple's previously reported $1.6B in Canton volume isn't revenue for tZERO, and the new platform still needs to launch.
But the strategy is becoming increasingly clear.
Now here's where I think the bigger picture gets even more interesting.
We've spent the past several days discussing the CFTC side of tZERO, including its recent Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO) approval and pending Designated Contract Market (DCM) application.
Now today's Temple announcement highlights the SEC-regulated securities side.
Two different regulatory environments. Different asset classes. Different opportunities.
But all contributing to a much larger infrastructure strategy.
Think about what tZERO is building.
On the securities side, it already has regulated broker-dealer, ATS, custody, and other market infrastructure capabilities.
On the derivatives side, it now has CFTC-registered introducing broker and DCO capabilities, with a DCM application still awaiting approval.
These are separate regulatory permissions, with different requirements and responsibilities.
But together, they could allow tZERO to provide institutions with access to a much broader range of financial market services across securities and derivatives.
And that's what I believe makes this so interesting.
A financial institution may not need every service tZERO provides.
One company might need securities trading and custody.
Another might need derivatives clearing and, eventually, exchange infrastructure.
Others may want access to multiple asset classes through one broader infrastructure relationship.
Rather than building every piece themselves, institutions could potentially leverage different parts of tZERO's regulated infrastructure to develop products and services for their own customers.
Now imagine that business model expanding across multiple financial markets, institutions, and asset classes.
There's a big difference between building your own marketplace and building the infrastructure that allows other companies to operate theirs.
tZERO is positioning itself to do both.
And to me, that's where the real long-term opportunity exists.
We're beginning to see how all these pieces fit together.
My two cents, worth zero.
"Our stack is end-to-end and turnkey and serves institutional clients across the asset lifecycle. The offering is built, ready and commercialized with Tier 1 clients" - @Alan_Konevsky
Damn right Humble, this is the @tZERO news we've been loooong waiting for 🚀
Huge thanks to every employee at @tZERO for the work that got us here, and to the #Tzero_Bros well done. Through the doubts, the delays, and the long stretches when it felt like we were shouting into the void, we never walked away. We held because we believed in what #tZERO could be, and we stood together. There will never be another group of Bros quite like us. Whatever history ends up saying, our story is one of the most unique chapters retail investors have ever written and we have taken this long journey together.
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead
NuntiumtZ retweeted
An incredible accomplishment by our team and a pinnacle moment on our licensing journey. For institutions building on our infrastructure, this opens the path to derivatives clearing alongside securities clearing, on one stack. More to come as our DCM application and client builds move forward 🚀
@tZERO has received CFTC approval for its wholly owned subsidiary, tZERO DCO, LLC, to operate as a Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO).
The approval expands tZERO's regulated infrastructure beyond securities markets and furthers our long-term vision of connecting traditional financial markets with blockchain technology through trusted, regulated market infrastructure.
Read more: tzero.com/news/tzero-opens-n…
👀 Well, well, well... @JackCambell14 and @hawk4075 (for the long thread win) now have their posts featured on @marketsmedia on @tZERO becoming a CFTC-registered DCO. Good stuff 👏🚀 @Alan_Konevsky is it Press Release time? marketsmedia.com/tzero-regis…
🏛️ @tZERO isn't trying to replace financial institutions, it's becoming the infrastructure they run on.
Banks, brokers, exchanges & wealth platforms can keep the customer.
tZERO provides the rails.
DCO ✅ | DCM ⏳
tZERO just received CFTC DCO registration.
Most investors will see “another approval.”
I see a bigger story: a company assembling the regulated infrastructure other firms could use to launch financial products.
Here's why the STACK matters.
cftc.gov/IndustryOversight/I…
NuntiumtZ retweeted
🚨 @tZERO officially registered as a Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO) by the @CFTC.
A DCO is a CFTC-regulated clearinghouse that manages the clearing and settlement of derivatives transactions, including futures, options, and swaps.
Next up: approval of pending Designated Contract Market (DCM) license. With both, tZERO could list and clear prediction market and event contracts in-house, on one integrated platform. 👀
🍯 @streamex's GLDY shows tokenization moving into IRAs & asset managers. With @tZERO named as a brokerage channel, every institutional flow through $GLDY can generate clearing revenue. Small today, but the rails are being built 🛤️ finance.yahoo.com/markets/co…
When is @tZERO time:
🆕 New app
💼 SPAC or IPO
📃 DCO Licence
💱 Buy and sell tzero
🏦 New tier one client named
⏱️ 'Coming soon' section operational
A few things coming in Q4... looking fwd to news from @Alan_Konevsky
& co. Anything I missed?
🏛️ Institutions are moving fast:
✅ @GoldmanSachs opens $105B Treasury fund via @Lynq
✅ @ICE_Markets partners with @okx
✅ @tZERO Securities powers Lynq as regulated broker‑dealer
🛤️ tZERO is becoming the institutional gateway/rails for digital assets idnfinancials.com/digital-as…
👀 OKXICE files with SEC to tokenize 60+ NYSE stocks under the innovation exemption. ICE also backs @tZERO for regulated settlement. Is ICE bldg layered rails (issuance + settlement) for a 24/7 Wall Street, or setting up internal competition in tokenized equities? @Alan_Konevsky
NuntiumtZ retweeted
Going for a #RidewithMarcus is like packing up your home ($OSTK) and hiring a moving company to drop you off at your new house in a new city ($NXH).
The truck driver is new, but he has an expired RV license and also works as a newsman.
You’ve been on the road for a while (almost 3 years), but your destination (cashflows, organic growth, profitability!) is still always justtt at the next exit coming up: "we don't lose money. Period. End of story" (company "mandate," Q2'25 call).
The driver shows you his map to get there (Q1'25 call): $1.2B revenue, 25% GM, 13% S&M. He says he's about to speed up, "sixty days away" from becoming a growth company (Q1'25 call), with Q4'26 "getting to zero or above" (Q4'25 call)!
He tells you your new home will be "asset light but asset smart" (Q1'25 call).
You pull off the highway to take a new route (#pillars). He tells you he’s not just here to drive trucks. He calls ahead to have additions installed at the house: a helipad (mortgage brokers), a moat with a drawbridge (F9, $150M), a hot tub (credit union), and a strip mall in the backyard ($TCS, $KIRK, storefronts), and a robot butler named Norm. He has the house repainted ($BYON > $BBBY > $NXH) and moved to a new foundation (NYSE->NASDAQ).
He demands a new rate because of how much work the house needed. None of his colleagues are listed on the moving company site and the directors are out to lunch.
The truck is now packed with hitchhikers & other people's stuff (shares out: 97M Q3'26 vs. 46M Oct'24). The Zestimate on your new home is down ~90% (share price ‘24: mid-$30s -> $3). He sold your car (Midvale HQ, ~$52M, Dec '24). There's a $137M bill for the strip mall. The moat is off bc of "disciplined capital allocation" (F9 PR, 9/8), but he still needs another ~$50M for gas to keep driving (the company "does need to raise working capital," Wedbush, 9/9). The moat company sues.
You check the map: Q2'26: every turn was made correctly (revenue $361M, GM 26.8%, S&M 11.9%), but the GPS says you're still $12M short that quarter (Adj. EBITDA).
There's a new ETA: "can become cash flow positive at a point in 2027," once the inventory is on the shelf (Wedbush, 9/9).
There's a stranger on the side of the road next to a scooter with its hazards on holding a sign that says $FTHM. The driver tells you to hand him your watch (tZERO) and the "hidden gem" (GrainChain, Wedbush 9/9) that you got from your grandpa.
He tells you he won't pawn them: "they're not up for sale" (Wedbush, 9/9). But the stranger knows mortgages & titles, so the "tremendous value" that's "difficult for the market to see" (PR, 9/24) when you it's on your wrist will be easier to see when the the stranger is wearing it on his scooter ("trackable public equity stake"). He doesn’t promote your watch on his website, but sometimes he comments on other watch company’s posts.
He proposes a trade: your watch and the remaining bag of gems (the hitchhikers have already taken your other watch and half the bag) for a controlling stake in the scooter. He says it’ll be worth $130M minimum, pending due diligence. Oh, and the stranger gets to keep ~20% of it too. You ask him how this pays for the gas, why you need a scooter, if the stranger will sell it when he needs gas money, how its value suddenly appears on stranger's scooter, why the other cars on the road are shouting don’t do it, why he doesn’t talk about the watch on his website? You don’t hear a response, but he tells the watch company they aren’t selling watches fast enough and he won’t pay to have it serviced like he committed to unless someone else agrees to buy it.
Your wife calls. She’s already at the house, but it was graffitied with INTELLIGENCE signs and now everyone in the NEIGHBORHOOD thinks she’s a fed; all she wanted to do was sell towels online and take care of your watch.
Time to get $NXH back on the highway, or find a new driver @marcuslemonis.
Fresh intelligence update out of the Neighborhood $NXH: 👁️
Proposal shifts all $NXH blockchain asset exposure to $FTHM in exchange for >$130m in newly-issued $FTHM stock.
Watching / Questions:
Asset marks: No support shown yet for the $130m price floor, no reliable analyst coverage, no Medici/GrainChain/tZERO financials disclosed, and port co's own roadmaps + comps could/should/would impact that mark (potentially materially) before a definitive is signed. Major determinant from both parties.
Integration: can FTHM leadership actually market/monetize what it's inheriting? Bar is low - existing/previous NXH/BYON/OSTK mgmt's transparency over the "hard to see" portfolio has been exactly that (reneged funding & IR commitments, no public coordination w Pelion, Medici Fund financials stripped from 10K reporting, stale cap tables disclosed, etc.) Do clunky relationships get resolved by restructuring, or just relocated to a new balance sheet/team? What mgmt commitments/changes/qualifications? Liquid/illiquid digital asset monetization strategy? NXH participation/monetization strategy of FTHM shares? How will FTHM reporting/disclosures be managed to actually function as a real tracking stock?
FTHM core biz: brokerage/title business has its own struggles (sub-$1 share price, negative earnings). Does a $130m digital asset infusion get diluted by a shaky operating platform, does it actually stabilize FTHM, how? Release also leaves room for FTHM to pursue further acquisitions post-close - bandwidth and capital allocation unclear. Should NXH shareholders be footing / at risk of that bill?
Approvals: NXH BoD unlikely to push back given its track record on mgmt oversight. Real scrutiny sits with FTHM's board (related-party stock issuance, fairness opinion) and Investment Company Act considerations on the combined entity. Not immaterial regulatory hurdles to clear.
📑 @nomyxio Reg A+ filing is... filed. An update to the March partnership news with @tZERO. SEC docs outline equity, warrants, and rev. participation bonds, paving the way for tokenized securities to reach regulated trading. tZERO providing the rails 🛤️ sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/…
@tZERO is partnering with @Nomyxio to connect tokenization infrastructure with regulated broker-dealer and ATS trading – helping issuers move from issuance to secondary market participation in a compliant environment.
More: tzero.com/news/tzero-nomyx-p…
🏛️ NYSE is rolling out a digital venue for tokenized stocks, partnering with @Securitize, @tZERO & @Blockchain
1️⃣ NYSE: venue + rules
2️⃣ Securitize: issuance + transfer agent
3️⃣ tZERO: broker‑dealer + infrastructure
4️⃣ Blockchain: retail distribution tradingview.com/news/finance…
ICE is bldg a digital trading platform w @tZERO as design ptnr & patent licensor. 100+ patents & SEC‑registered infrastructure, tZERO is positioned at the CORE of regulated tokenization. As @Alan_Konevsky said “you cannot put this genie back in the bottle” tradersmagazine.com/xtra/inc…
NuntiumtZ retweeted
Update: @tZERO strikes back (9/18)
tZERO highlights @Securitize S-1 claims its tokenization tech is "a fundamental shift" that will "materially improve efficiency" and "accelerate innovation." Now that tZERO says that same tech infringes its patents, Securitize tells the court it's just generic "escrow."
Patent highlights:
'996: requires a two-part cryptographic proof. The destination address and its public key must both be mathematically derivable from the private key that signed the request, preventing transfers to addresses the sender doesn't control.
'802: requires compliance rules to live in a smart contract separate from the token itself, so rules can be updated without touching the token's code. Securitize's motion relies on a representative claim that skips this limitation.
tZERO also notes that whether these elements were conventional is a factual question, not one a court can decide on a motion to dismiss: 4 of 5 patents already survived Section 101 rejection at the PTO.
courtlistener.com/docket/735…
NuntiumtZ retweeted
I would love to have it in 2025 but we have a lot to catch up on per roadmap, I didn’t inherit an in flight build and wrt the app working more or less from scratch. So 2026 most likely. As early as we can.
🧠 NEW PATENT GRANTED: US 12731128 B2 "Deploying a Second Smart Contract Based on a First Smart Contract." Enabling layered automation for compliance, settlement, governance & derivatives. With ICE already licensing 103 patents, this widens the moat even further. @tZERO keeps building the plumbing of tokenization... crypto was the warm‑up, tokenization is the main event 🏆
📑 @tZERO patent application 'US 2026/0065367 A1' Crypto Multiple Security Asset Creation & Redemption Platform:
🪙 Multi‑asset fund tokens
🔗 Collateralized + on‑chain
⚡ Core rails for new wave of tokenized ETFs & structured products - infrastructure for mainstream tokenization
👏 Another milestone for @tZERO; yet further validation of tZERO’s compliance‑first infrastructure. Reinforcing its role as the 𝙜𝙤‑𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙩 𝙥𝙡𝙪𝙢𝙗𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙯𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨. Building the future of finance, one partnership at a time 🏗️
@ArchaxEx has selected @tZERO to help power its expansion into the US tokenized securities market.
tZERO will provide regulated infrastructure spanning correspondent clearing, digital asset securities custody, escrow and secondary trading.
🔗 tzero.com/news/tzero-to-powe…
