Tokenized assets remain restricted by investor rules despite onchain access, Tessera CEO says

Chan Ahn says legal eligibility, wallet restrictions and issuer controls determine who can access tokenized securities as more companies oppose third party tokenization. Putting financial assets on a blockchain does not automatically expand investor access, as securities regulations, issuer restrictions and platform controls continue to determine who can buy and hold tokenized instruments, according to Chan Ahn, founder and CEO of Tessera. “The ledger doesn’t decide who may hold the asset; the legal route it is sold under does,” Ahn, a former Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan executive, told Crypto Briefing in written responses. Ahn pointed to Franklin Templeton’s BENJI and BlackRock’s BUIDL tokenized money market funds as examples of how eligibility requirements influence participation. BENJI, which is available to eligible US investors with a $20 minimum for most accounts, had 1,139 holder addresses as of November 7, compared with 101 for BUIDL, which is restricted to investors meeting additional qualification requirements, according to RWA.xyz figures cited by Ahn. He cautioned that blockchain addresses do not necessarily correspond to individual investors and that differences between ...