The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed a broad update to rules and forms for registered transfer agents, the firms that help maintain securities ownership records and support clearance and settlement.

The agency said the rules have not been substantively updated since the first transfer-agent framework was adopted in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The proposal would amend existing rules and forms, rescind one rule, and add new rules for registered transfer agents and their activities.

The tokenization angle is explicit but still procedural. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said the proposal is meant to reflect current transfer-agent operations, including "the use of electronic communications and blockchain technology in connection with securities offerings and the transfer of shares." The public comment period will remain open for 60 days after the proposal appears in the Federal Register.

Separately, the SEC published the agenda and panelists for a Sept. 17 roundtable on preparations for 24-hour trading in U.S. equity markets. The event is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET at the SEC's Washington headquarters and will be webcast.

The roundtable agenda focuses on exchange and broker-dealer readiness, overnight surveillance, closing-price processes, clearance and settlement changes, investor protection, operational resiliency, market-data continuity, cybersecurity, staffing, liquidity, capital formation, and possible next regulatory steps.

Together, the two items show the SEC moving on market plumbing rather than approving a single tokenized-securities product. For crypto and tokenization builders, the important signal is that blockchain-based share transfer and longer trading hours are being discussed inside the same modernization frame as traditional settlement infrastructure.