Prometheum is betting that the next phase of tokenized financing will not be won by crypto exchanges, but by traditional brokers and registered investment advisors (RIAs).
“So far, the tokenization story has been about issuance, but no one has addressed the challenge of how to bring these products to traditional investors,” Aaron Kaplan, co-founder and co-CEO of Prometheum, told CoinDesk in an interview.
“Until tokenized and digitally native securities can reach investors through the brokerage channels they already use, tokenization is a marketless solution,” he added.
Tokenized securities are traditional financial assets such as stocks, bonds or funds that are issued and traded on blockchain networks as digital tokens representing ownership or investment rights.
The New York-based digital asset infrastructure company recently launched Prometheum Capital’s Digital Brokerage Solutions, a suite of matching clearing, custody and trading services designed to enable brokers to offer crypto assets, including tokenized securities and other blockchain-based financial products, directly through traditional brokerage accounts.
This launch marks Prometheum’s latest attempt to bridge the gap between the crypto industry and the regulated securities ecosystem.
“Crypto solved tokenization, but it didn’t solve distribution,” says Kaplan. “There are already tens of billions of dollars of tokenized securities issued on blockchain, but almost no traditional distribution channels to reach investors at scale.”
Prometheum operates a network of SEC-registered and FINRA-member broker-dealers designed to support the full lifecycle of blockchain-based securities, including issuance, trading, custody, clearing and settlement.
The company positions itself as a bridge between traditional financial markets and digital assets, providing regulated infrastructure for tokenized securities, crypto assets and on-chain financial products through existing brokerage and securities legal frameworks.
It operates a network of regulated entities spanning the lifecycle of digital assets, including a transfer agent, broker-dealer, alternative trading system (ATS), custody platform and corresponding clearing infrastructure. Kaplan described the company’s clearing-enabled custodian as its “special sauce.”
Prometheum joined the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) Industry Working Group in May as one of more than 50 financial companies helping shape the development of the Depository Trust Company (DTC) tokenization service.
Build a timing wheel
The company says its platform serves two primary functions: helping issuers distribute tokenized securities into the broader financial system and enabling traditional brokers to build digital asset businesses without relying on crypto-native exchanges.
This creates what Kaplan calls a “flywheel effect,” connecting issuers with institutional distribution channels while giving traditional financial firms access to the growing market for blockchain-based assets.
Prometheum’s first correspondent clearing clients include Arete Wealth Management, Network 1 Financial Securities and an unnamed clearing broker, according to a company statement.
Kaplan says the broader opportunity lies in opening the brokerage and RIA channel, long the dominant distribution network for traditional securities, to digital assets.
“The broker channel is how you can reach investors at scale,” he says. “Now, for the first time, broker-dealers and RIAs can offer digital assets directly through their existing account structures and compete with crypto trading platforms on a more level playing field. »
Compete with crypto platforms under securities rules
Prometheum says traditional securities firms were largely sidelined during the crypto boom because many digital asset platforms operated outside of conventional securities regulation. By integrating blockchain-based assets into a regulated brokerage framework, Kaplan says firms can compete while maintaining investor protections such as asset segregation, custody controls and compliance monitoring.
“This is a proven regulatory structure that has allowed investors to prosper for generations,” says Kaplan. “Now it can also support digital assets. »
The company positions itself around the idea that the future of securities markets will ultimately be on-chain. Kaplan highlights growing industry projections that real-world token assets (RWA) could become a major segment of capital markets over the next decade.
“The future of securities is on-chain,” he says. “As these products become better, faster and cheaper, brokers will need the infrastructure to compete and offer them to their clients.”
More brokers and RIAs should join them
Prometheum says additional brokers and RIAs are expected to integrate in the coming months as demand for regulated digital asset infrastructure increases. Kaplan also discussed an upcoming institutional distribution partnership that he believes will help attract larger issuers to the ecosystem.
The broader thesis reflects an ongoing shift in the digital assets sector, where companies are focusing less on creating tokens and more on integrating blockchain-based assets into existing financial distribution networks.
For Prometheum, the bet is that tokenization alone is not enough. Without Wall Street’s distribution mechanism, digital securities risk remaining a niche product despite the technology’s promise.
According to Kaplan, “integrating blockchain into capital markets is not about replacing the system, but about modernizing it so that issuers, brokers and investors all benefit from faster settlement, broader access and more efficient distribution of investment products.”
“Achieving these benefits at scale depends on infrastructure that can move products on-chain through the channels that investors and advisors already use, and that’s what Prometheum has built,” he added.
Learn more: Crypto platform Bullish to buy Equiiniti for $4.2 billion, creating tokenized securities infrastructure
