Ohanae Gets FINRA Nod for Crypto Securities Custody, Clearing

NEW YORK, NY – May 26, 2026 – The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has authorized Ohanae Securities LLC to significantly expand its business, granting it the ability to custody, clear, and settle crypto asset securities. The decision marks a pivotal moment for the digital asset industry, signaling a growing regulatory acceptance of market infrastructure designed specifically for tokenized securities.

Ohanae Securities, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ohanae, Inc., can now operate as a self-clearing broker-dealer for digital asset securities, provide custody for customer and proprietary accounts, and carry out activities including private placements and the sale of corporate debt and over-the-counter equity securities. This approval provides the regulatory foundation for the company's ambitious mission: to build a new generation of capital market infrastructure from the ground up, purpose-built for the digital era.

The authorization arrives as regulators like FINRA and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continue to refine their approach to the burgeoning crypto asset space. While the industry has been characterized by regulatory uncertainty, this move represents a concrete step toward establishing clear operational pathways for firms handling digital securities within the established U.S. financial framework.

The Regulatory Green Light

FINRA's approval is more than a simple business expansion; it is a validation of an operational model that integrates blockchain technology with stringent regulatory compliance. For years, broker-dealers have navigated a complex and evolving landscape. FINRA has consistently emphasized that existing securities laws apply to crypto assets deemed securities, issuing notices like 18-20 and 20-23 to remind member firms of their obligations regarding supervision, anti-money laundering, and public communications.

The most significant hurdle has been the custody of digital asset securities, governed by the SEC's Customer Protection Rule (Rule 15c3-3). A 2019 Joint Staff Statement created challenges for many firms, but its withdrawal in May 2025 and replacement with new SEC guidance have clarified how broker-dealers can demonstrate control over these assets. Ohanae's authorization to self-clear and custody these assets suggests it has successfully demonstrated a model that meets these rigorous standards.

This regulatory clarity is seen by industry experts as a crucial catalyst. It provides a blueprint for other firms and signals to the broader market that compliant pathways for digital securities are not just theoretical but achievable. By securing this authorization, Ohanae can now execute its vision within a framework that prioritizes the investor protections central to FINRA's mission.

Beyond Tokenization: A New Market Structure

Ohanae's leadership has been vocal that its focus extends beyond the simple act of tokenizing assets. The company's vision centers on re-architecting the underlying market structure that supports the entire lifecycle of a security.

"Today's authorization represents a defining milestone for our company and validates years of work building the regulatory foundation for a new category of market infrastructure," said Greg Hauw, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ohanae. "The industry has spent years discussing tokenization. We believe the larger opportunity is market structure. Tokenized securities require infrastructure purpose-built for the digital era. This authorization enables us to continue executing that vision within a regulated broker-dealer framework."

For decades, capital markets have operated on a fragmented collection of legacy systems for issuance, trading, settlement, and recordkeeping. Ohanae aims to unify these functions into a single, integrated ecosystem. The company is developing a platform that combines its FINRA-member broker-dealer with an SEC-registered transfer agent, custody and settlement services, and a proprietary blockchain. This model seeks to eliminate intermediaries, increase transparency, and dramatically accelerate settlement times through technologies like atomic settlement, where trades either execute fully or not at all.

This ambition is encapsulated in the company's bold positioning: NYSE. Nasdaq. Now, Ohanae. The goal is to become synonymous with a new, regulated market for digital securities, much as its predecessors defined the markets for traditional equities.

A Crowded Field of Innovators

Ohanae enters a competitive but rapidly expanding field of digital asset infrastructure providers. It is not alone in its quest to bridge the gap between traditional finance and blockchain technology. Several key players, both crypto-native and traditional finance-backed, are also building regulated pathways for institutional adoption.

Paxos, a chartered national bank regulated by the NYDFS, provides custody, settlement, and stablecoin issuance for major enterprise clients. Anchorage Digital became the first federally chartered crypto bank in the U.S., offering a suite of institutional-grade services including custody and trading. Meanwhile, platforms like Securitize have focused intensely on the technology for tokenizing real-world assets and managing their compliance throughout their lifecycle.

Where Ohanae aims to differentiate itself is in its vertically integrated model as a self-clearing broker-dealer with a proprietary blockchain and an alternative trading system (ATS) designed to create a self-contained, efficient market. This contrasts with competitors who may offer one or two pieces of the puzzle, such as custody or issuance technology, but rely on partnerships to complete the value chain. Ohanae's all-in-one approach is designed to offer a seamless experience from capital formation to secondary trading.

Fueling Institutional Demand

The timing for such infrastructure could not be better. Institutional interest in tokenized assets is surging, driven by the promise of enhanced liquidity, greater efficiency, and increased transparency. Market forecasts reflect this optimism, with some analysts projecting the asset tokenization market to grow from an estimated $1.76 trillion in 2025 to over $24 trillion by 2033.

This growth is predicated on the ability to tokenize traditionally illiquid assets like real estate, private equity, and fine art, enabling fractional ownership and opening these markets to a broader investor base. Blockchain's immutable ledger offers a tamper-proof record of ownership, reducing settlement times from days to minutes and cutting administrative costs.

However, institutional investors have remained cautious, citing regulatory uncertainty and the lack of robust, compliant infrastructure as major barriers to entry. The establishment of regulated entities like Ohanae Securities, which operate under the familiar oversight of bodies like FINRA and the SEC, directly addresses these concerns. Such regulated on-ramps provide the confidence and security that large asset managers, pension funds, and corporate treasuries require before deploying significant capital into a new asset class. The emergence of a fully regulated ecosystem for the issuance, custody, and trading of digital securities is the critical ingredient needed to unlock this wave of institutional capital and transform tokenization from a niche concept into a mainstream financial reality.