A groundbreaking initiative led by the Solana Policy Institute, Orca decentralized exchange, and Superstate registered investment adviser is seeking approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch a pilot program for the issuance and trading of securities on public blockchains. The project, known as “Project Open,” aims to establish internet capital markets that are more efficient, accessible, and transparent.
The proposal, submitted on April 30th, requests exemptive relief from the SEC to facilitate the project under existing regulatory frameworks. If approved, US entities would be able to issue securities on public blockchain networks, with Orca facilitating secondary transactions. Solana Policy Institute CEO, Miller Whitehouse-Levine, expressed the coalition’s commitment to collaborating with the SEC and industry partners to drive financial innovation.
Superstate would be responsible for issuing the securities, while the Solana Policy Institute would oversee technical and regulatory aspects of the project. The pilot program, structured under SEC Rules 5b-3 and 15c3-3, aims to demonstrate that publicly accessible blockchains can support compliant and transparent markets for traditional securities.
“Project Open” proposes the issuance of tokens representing securities on a public blockchain like Solana, enabling programmable compliance features and settlement mechanisms. Eligible investors would have access to these securities through interfaces that adhere to know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) requirements. Orca would provide liquidity and price discovery, while Superstate, operating as an SEC-registered investment advisor, would act as the issuer.
The pilot program would focus on limited asset types and capped transaction volumes to evaluate the feasibility of public blockchain infrastructure as an alternative to existing clearing and settlement systems. The coalition is seeking no-action relief or exemption orders from the SEC to proceed with the project within the bounds of the Investment Company Act and Exchange Act.
In light of the SEC’s increased engagement with tokenization and blockchain-based infrastructure, “Project Open” aligns with the regulator’s goals for transparency and investor protection. The use of public, decentralized blockchain infrastructure is seen as offering verifiable audit trails, open market data access, and lower barriers to entry for issuers and intermediaries.
If approved, “Project Open” would mark a significant milestone as one of the first SEC-sanctioned efforts to enable securities trading directly on a public blockchain. The pilot program, supported by a registered asset manager and decentralized exchange, aims to provide valuable insights into investor behavior, system performance, and compliance monitoring in a blockchain-native environment. While the SEC has not issued a formal response yet, the initiative holds the potential to shape future policymaking in the evolving landscape of financial markets.