ATS & Broker-Dealer License Tracker
Every SEC-registered Alternative Trading System approved for digital securities trading in the US — who's licensed, pending, and what their approval means for secondary market liquidity.
ATS Registration — Alternative Trading System
An Alternative Trading System (ATS) is an SEC-regulated trading venue that matches buyers and sellers of securities outside of national exchanges — and the only legal mechanism for secondary trading of most tokenized securities in the US.
Broadridge DLR — $384 Billion Daily and the Future of Repo Settlement
Broadridge's Distributed Ledger Repo processed a record $384B in notional in a single day in December 2024, with all major US broker-dealers participating in T+0 repo settlement.
Broker-Dealer Registration
Any person or firm engaged in buying and selling securities on behalf of clients (broker) or for its own account (dealer) must register with the SEC as a broker-dealer and join FINRA — including platforms that facilitate tokenized securities transactions.
Digital Asset Markets Association (DAMA)
DAMA is a US-based digital asset trade group focused on market structure and trading issues — representing digital asset exchanges and trading firms in SEC and CFTC proceedings on ATS regulation, broker-dealer rules, and market structure for tokenized securities.
FINRA — Broker-Dealer Oversight for Digital Securities Trading
FINRA, the SEC-authorized self-regulatory organization overseeing US broker-dealers, requires all digital securities ATS operators to be FINRA members and has issued regulatory guidance on crypto due diligence standards and AML programs.
tZERO — America's Original Digital Securities Exchange
tZERO is the first SEC-approved digital securities ATS, launched in 2019 after raising $134M in its own 2018 security token offering, and currently hosts secondary trading for 15+ tokenized assets.