US Senate Bill Classifies Tokenized Assets as Securities
What the Senate’s Amendment Means
The U.S. Senate has introduced an amendment to its Responsible Financial Innovation Act of 2025 that explicitly classifies tokenized stocks, bonds, and other securities as securities. The measure ensures that digitized assets remain under the jurisdiction of the Securities and platform Commission (SEC), maintaining their treatment within existing broker-dealer, clearing, and trading frameworks. Lawmakers said the change is intended to remove amlargeuity over whether tokenized instruments should instead fall under commodities rules.
The move comes as banks and markets. Institutions including JPMorgan, Franklin Templeton, and Société Générale have already experimented with tokenized equities and bonds. According to Boston Consulting Group, global tokenized asset volumes surpassed $3 billion in 2024 and could reach $16 trillion by 2030 if legal certainty is established.
“We want this on the president’s desk before the end of the year,” said Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), one of the bill’s lead sponsors.
Investor Takeaway
SEC vs. CFTC: A Divided Landscape
The bill aims to split oversight of digital assets between the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The Senate Banking Committee is expected to review the SEC-related provisions this month, with the Agriculture Committee examining the CFTC elements in October. A full Senate vote could come in November.
The division reflects long-standing turf battles: the SEC has brought more than 150 enforcement actions against crypto companies since 2017, while the CFTC overviews worth trillions annually. Analysts say the bill, if passed, would create the most comprehensive U.S. framework yet for crypto markets, reducing regulatory overlap that has sparked legal disputes including the , Coinbase, and Binance.
Partisan Divide and Industry Pressure
Despite progress, the bill has not yet secured full Democratic support. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), who co-sponsored earlier drafts, has not confirmed her backing, while Majority Leader Chuck Schumer emphasized that consumer protection and anti-money laundering secureguards remain key Democratic priorities.
Meanwhile, industry groups continue to lobby for clarity. In July, over 100 firms and advocacy groups — including Coinbase, Kraken, Ripple, a16z, and Uniswap Labs — urged lawmakers to ensure protections for software developers and non-custodial providers. They warned that misclassification could undermine U.S. competitiveness, pointing out that more than $150 billion in stablecoin flows left the U.S. in 2024 for jurisdictions with clearer frameworks such as the EU’s MiCA regime and Singapore.
Developer data highlights the risk: the U.S. share of fell from 25% in 2021 to 18% in 2025, while Europe now hosts 30% and Asia nahead 35% of the global total.
Investor Takeaway
What’s Next for Tokenized Finance?
If enacted, the legislation would provide the legal certainty needed for large-scale adoption of tokenized financial instruments across the $50 trillion U.S. capital markets. Analysts suggest the clarity could accelerate the rollout of tokenized equities, bonds, and funds by mainstream financial institutions, aligning the U.S. with Europe and Asia in embracing blockchain for capital markets infrastructure.
For investors, the implications are twofold: reduced litigation risk in massive expansion of tokenized products. The question now is whether bipartisan consensus can be reached before year-end to deliver the bill to the president’s desk.
