Dinari Secures US Broker-Dealer Registration for Blockchain-Based Shares

Dinari, a San Francisco-based firm, has secured a US broker-dealer registration for its subsidiary, marking a significant milestone as the first platform cleared to offer blockchain-based shares of publicly traded companies to domestic investors. This development was announced on June 26, and the company plans to activate the licensed entity during the next quarter, following the completion of onboarding with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Dinari already distributes “dShares” on Coinbase’s Base network to users outside the US. The new clearance allows it to offer the same product to American brokerages and fintech apps through APIs rather than a direct-to-consumer portal. CEO Gabriel Otte stated that the company has lined up undisclosed integration partners and will route trades to registered market centers while settling token issuances on a public blockchain.

Tokenizing equities converts conventional shares into transferable digital tokens recorded on a blockchain. Proponents argue that this structure trims clearing fees, accelerates settlement to near real-time, and supports round-the-clock trading. Dinari’s registration satisfies long-standing SEC requirements that secondary trading in securities, whether tokenized or not, run through licensed intermediaries.

Despite the push from companies to offer tokenized equities, hurdles persist. The World Economic Forum last month flagged shallow secondary-market liquidity and the absence of unified technical standards as chief obstacles to mainstream use. Otte acknowledged those gaps but said Dinari’s on-chain settlement framework aims to provide a template regulators, and industry groups can reference when drafting interoperability guidelines.

Unlike retail brokerages, Dinari embeds its trading and custody stack inside third-party platforms. Otte described the strategy as a “white label rails” model designed to let fintech firms bolt tokenized equities onto existing mobile apps without building blockchain infrastructure in-house. Dinari’s broker-dealer will begin customer testing after it finishes control-location attestations and vault integrations required under SEC Rule 15c3-3. The company stated that it would publish updated technical specifications for its ERC-20-based share contract before the US launch.