The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is moving into blockchain technology, so it seems.
According to a post on the Federal Business Opportunities website, the SEC is looking to acquire off the shelf technology to better monitor digital assets including compliance and risk and has issued an RFQ in pursuit of this goal.
A commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) enterprise-wide data subscription
At a minimum, the SEC seeks to monitor Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains but the Commission would prefer to be able to keep an eye on: Bitcoin Cash, Stellar, Zcash, EOS, NEO, and XRP Ledger.
The SEC also requires the ability to add new blockchains going forward if they “gain prominence.”
The SEC clarifies that it wants a to source all blockchain data from hosted nodes, rather than providing this data as a secondary source (e.g., via blockchain explorers).
The request by the SEC should come as no surprise. The fast-emerging digital asset ecosystem is one that will encompass digital currencies and most securities at some point in the future. And, at least outside the US, a regulated utility type-token ecosystem is becoming established.