Securitize has appointed Jerome Roche as its new general counsel, a former PayPal executive who led the company’s development of the PayPal USD stablecoin, in a move that signals a push to accelerate US tokenization. The hire comes as Securitize leverages its regulated infrastructure and institutional partnerships to expand tokenized securities and liquid-token use cases in the United States.
Roche’s background in payments and stablecoin development positions him to manage complex regulatory engagement and product integration for tokenized securities. Tokenization is the process of encoding ownership rights or financial assets on a blockchain to enable digital transfer and settlement, aligning the technology with existing financial frameworks.
Securitize already operates as a registered transfer agent, broker-dealer and fund administrator, a compliance stack that the company says underpins legal access for US investors. The firm has also secured approvals to operate as an investment company and a trading and settlement system in the European Union, reflecting a dual-continent compliance approach designed to support cross-border tokenization.
US tokenization: market position, partnerships, and liquidity realities
Securitize holds roughly 20% of the real-world asset tokenization market, with about $4.5 billion in tokenized assets on its platform. It serves as transfer agent for BlackRock’s BUIDL fund, which surpassed $1 billion in assets under management, and partnered with BNY Mellon to launch the Securitize Tokenized AAA CLO Fund (STAC), bringing structured credit onto blockchain rails.
The company also integrates interoperability and off-ramp solutions: Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin functions as an off-ramp for BlackRock’s BUIDL and VanEck’s VBILL, the latter offering on-chain access to short-term US Treasury debt. Strategic funding rounds led by BlackRock and Jump Crypto, plus the acquisition of MG Stover’s fund administration business, round out Securitize’s push to consolidate infrastructure and services for institutional tokenization.
Company leadership has emphasized the limits of tokenization to instantly render illiquid assets liquid. Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo has acknowledged that tokenized representations can inherit the illiquidity of the underlying asset, noting that tokenization delivers the clearest benefits when applied to already-liquid instruments. He said there exists a “clear regulatory path” for issuers within the US, and in practice, the strongest early use cases are stablecoins and tokenized US Treasury instruments, which can leverage existing liquidity while gaining 24/7 settlement, transparency and programmatic access.
The Roche hire, combined with Securitize’s regulated capabilities, institutional partnerships and $4.5 billion of on-platform assets, frames the company as a central actor in the developing US tokenization market.
