CoinDesk
Prometheum has rolled out Prometheum Capital's Digital Brokerage Solutions, a correspondent clearing, custody and trading stack that lets SEC-registered broker-dealers and RIAs offer tokenized securities and crypto assets directly through traditional brokerage accounts. Inaugural correspondent clearing clients include Arete Wealth Management, Network 1 Financial Securities and an unnamed clearing broker-dealer, with more firms expected to onboard in the coming months.
The launch lands as Prometheum has joined the DTCC's tokenization working group alongside more than 50 financial firms shaping the Depository Trust Company's onchain service, and as the tokenized RWA market continues to draw industry projections of a multi-trillion-dollar addressable base over the coming decade.
Why it matters
Co-founder and co-CEO Aaron Kaplan frames the gap plainly: "Crypto has solved tokenization, but it hasn't solved distribution." Tens of billions of dollars of tokenized securities already sit on blockchain rails, he argues, but almost none of it has a mainstream channel to reach investors at scale. Prometheum's play is to thread tokenized assets into the same correspondent clearing and custody pipes that already move stocks and bonds, so that a broker-dealer can add a tokenized product the same way it adds a new mutual fund — through an existing account, under existing securities law.
The thesis is that the broker-dealer and RIA channel, long the dominant distribution network for traditional US securities, is the missing piece crypto exchanges cannot replicate on their own. By routing blockchain-based assets through a regulated broker-dealer framework, Prometheum argues, incumbent firms get asset segregation, custody controls and compliance oversight they already trust, while gaining a way to compete with crypto-native venues on the products they offer clients.
Frequently asked questions
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What did Prometheum actually launch?
Prometheum Capital's Digital Brokerage Solutions, a suite of correspondent clearing, custody and trading services that lets SEC-registered broker-dealers and RIAs offer tokenized securities and crypto assets through traditional brokerage accounts.
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Who are the first broker-dealers on the platform?
Inaugural correspondent clearing clients include Arete Wealth Management, Network 1 Financial Securities, and an unnamed clearing broker-dealer, with more firms expected to onboard in the coming months.
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Why does Prometheum think the broker-dealer channel matters?
Co-CEO Aaron Kaplan argues tens of billions of dollars of tokenized securities already sit on blockchain rails but lack a mainstream distribution channel; the broker-dealer and RIA network is the existing pipe for reaching investors at scale.
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What is Prometheum's role in the DTCC tokenization effort?
Prometheum joined the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation's Industry Working Group in May as one of more than 50 financial firms helping shape the Depository Trust Company's tokenization service.
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How does Prometheum frame the competition with crypto exchanges?
Prometheum argues regulated broker-dealers can compete with crypto-native venues on a more level playing field by offering tokenized assets under existing securities law, with asset segregation, custody controls and compliance oversight built in.
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