At Alphaledger, we believe on-chain securities are the inevitable next step in the evolution of capital markets. That’s why we’ve built Vulcan Forge, our Solana-native securities tokenization platform.
Vulcan Forge allows regulated issuers, fund managers, and underwriters to mint compliant, on-chain securities as SPL tokens – complete with transfer restrictions, wallet whitelisting, and off-chain metadata linking to offering documentation. The result is a seamless integration between traditional regulatory frameworks and decentralized financial infrastructure.
I. From Ledgers to Liquidity: A Brief History of Capital Markets
Capital markets have always been shaped by how ownership is recorded and exchanged. Thousands of years ago, ownership might have been tracked through clay tablets or handwritten scrolls. Over time, those primitive ledgers gave way to paper certificates, then to private databases. Each shift brought increased scale, complexity, and velocity to financial systems.
But while technology has advanced, the underlying infrastructure of capital markets remains constrained by legacy design. Centralized clearinghouses, custodians, and transfer agents still dominate the post-trade lifecycle. Settlement times are measured in days. Market access is gated by geography, office hours, and intermediaries. The world may be digital, but the plumbing of finance remains analog in spirit.
For the most part this model has worked – but it’s far from optimal. And now, for the first time, there’s a credible alternative: on-chain securities.
II. On-Chain Securities: The Next Leap Forward
On-chain securities represent a paradigm shift. Instead of relying on siloed, permissioned databases to track ownership and enforce compliance, these instruments embed rights, restrictions, and logic directly into blockchain-native tokens.
This isn’t just digitization – it’s re-engineering. On-chain securities leverage smart contracts, decentralized infrastructure, and public ledgers to create a programmable, composable, and “always-on” model for ownership.
This model allows capital to move faster, more transparently, and with fewer intermediaries. Just as electronic trading replaced open-outcry pits, on-chain securities are set to replace the dated backend systems of traditional finance with something more aligned with the speed and expectations of today’s economy.
III. Advantages Over Traditional Financial Infrastructure
1. 24/7/365 Transactions
Unlike traditional securities that trade within limited windows, on-chain securities live on global blockchains making real-time settlement possible, at any hour, from anywhere in the world. This continuous availability allows for more dynamic portfolio management, real-time risk adjustment, and transaction timing unconstrained by market hours.
2. Instant, Final Settlement
While traditional securities settle on a T+1 basis and require multiple clearing layers, on-chain securities settle atomically. Ownership and payment transfer together – instantly and irrevocably, or “T-Now”, removing counterparty risk and eliminating the need for clearinghouses or manual reconciliations.
3. Programmable and Composable Ownership
Tokens can embed transfer restrictions, compliance logic, dividend distribution schedules, optionality, and governance mechanics – all enforced via smart contracts. Moreover, on-chain securities are composable: for example, they can be integrated into decentralized financial (“DeFi”) applications to be used as collateral for borrowing, or earn interest through lending, and more.
4. Transparency and Immutable Records
Public ledgers provide real-time insight into ownership and transfer history. This transparency enables instant auditability for investors, issuers, and regulators – something that is nearly impossible to achieve with traditional systems. For example, transactions into and out of the T12 Token (fund), and related fees, can be viewed here: https://solscan.io/token/GPjDgRPhSuJSya5GbaCWkYCDqcyL6N3ZBge9XMJsDton
5. Self-Custody and Investor Control
One of the most underappreciated benefits of on-chain securities is the shift in control from intermediaries to investors. On-chain securities can be held directly in user-controlled wallets, reducing reliance on centralized custodians. Investors decide how, when, and where their assets are lent – or not lent at all. This means:
- Investors may retain full control over the economic risk and benefit of lending their securities
- Lending yields flow directly to the asset owner
- Lending behavior can be automated or actively managed depending on strategy
IV. What Still Needs to Be Built
Despite their promise, on-chain securities are still maturing. Key areas of development include:
- Wallet Recovery and Key Management. For most investors, losing access to a wallet shouldn’t mean losing their investment. Secure, user-friendly recovery mechanisms are essential for wide-spread market adoption.
- Regulatory Frameworks and Safeguards. Securities laws still apply. Regulatory clarity on issues like secondary trading, custody, and investor protection is evolving. Infrastructure must enforce KYC/AML, transfer restrictions, and fund governance in a compliant, transparent way.
- Market Infrastructure and Liquidity. While the tokenization layer is advancing rapidly, secondary liquidity venues, price discovery mechanisms, and institutional-grade service providers must continue to emerge and evolve to support broad adoption.
- Much faster, cost-efficient, comprehensive, and compliant read layers for the blockchain transactions history and current and past position balances.
V. Alphaledger: Building the Future on Solana
Vulcan Forge allows regulated issuers, fund managers, and underwriters to mint compliant, on-chain securities as SPL tokens – complete with transfer restrictions, wallet whitelisting, and off-chain metadata linking to offering documentation. The result is a seamless integration between traditional regulatory frameworks and decentralized financial infrastructure.
Our first live product using Vulcan Forge is the T12 Fund – a tokenized private investment fund designed to deliver 12% annualized distributions (before fees and expenses) through a diversified alternative income portfolio. Investors can subscribe using stablecoins or dollars, and receive tokenized ownership represented as SPL tokens on Solana.
VI. Conclusion: The Inevitable Path of Capital
The story of capital markets is one of evolution – from stone tablets to stock certificates, from physical exchanges to electronic trading. Each leap has been driven not only by how ownership is registered, but also by what you can do with that ownership, and how quickly.
On-chain securities are the next logical step in that journey. They enable faster movement, direct participation, and deeper integration into the digital economy. For issuers and investors ready to operate at internet speed, they offer a powerful new toolkit.
At Alphaledger, we’re building the rails to make that future real. T12 is just the beginning.
The information contained herein is solely informational and does not constitute an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of investments or investment strategies. It is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any financial instrument or as an official confirmation of any transaction. Such an offer may only be made after you have received applicable offering documents for the fund. All of the information herein is subject to, and qualified in its entirety by, the terms described in the fund’s offering documents. Before you make an investment in the fund, you should carefully and thoroughly review those offering documents.
The fund is not guaranteed to generate quarterly distributions at the annualized rate set forth herein. The distribution target set forth herein is used for measurement or comparison purposes and only as a guideline for investors to evaluate the fund’s investment strategies and accompanying information. The targeted distribution set forth herein reflects subjective determinations by Alphaledger Investment Management LLC (“ALIM”) based on a variety of factors, including, among others, investment strategy, prior performance of similar products and strategies (if any), volatility measures, risk tolerance, and market conditions. Targeted distributions are not intended to be actual performance and should not be relied upon as an indication of actual or future performance of the fund. ALIM’s beliefs and assumptions may or may not prove to be correct and there can be no assurance that any such targets are attainable or will be realized, and actual results may vary materially, and include the possibility that, an investor therein may lose some or all of its invested capital.
The interests in the fund have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), or any state securities laws or the laws of any non-U.S. jurisdiction. It is anticipated that any offering and sale of the interests in the fund will be made only to investors that qualify as “accredited investors” within the meaning of Rule 501(a) under the Securities Act. An investment in the fund involves a high degree of risk, including possible loss of value, and is suitable only for sophisticated investors. The statements herein are subject to change at any time at ALIM’s sole discretion, and ALIM is not obligated to revise or update any statements herein for any reason or to notify recipients of any such change, revision, or update.
Alphaledger Markets, Inc. (“ALM”), a subsidiary of Alpha Ledger Technologies, is not serving as broker dealer for the fund or otherwise providing broker dealer services in connection with the fund’s offering of units to investors. ALM will not act as placement agent, underwriter, selling agent, custodian, or otherwise participate in the distribution of the units, and will not solicit, recommend, or arrange for the purchase or sale of units. Accordingly, (i) ALM will not be involved in the distribution of units, (ii) an account will not be opened with ALM, (iii) ALM will not otherwise have custody of fund assets, and (iv) SIPC protections will not apply with respect to an investment in the Fund. Check the background of this firm on FINRA’s BrokerCheck.
Certain individuals who serve as officers of ALIM may also be officers of ALM. These individuals will receive no incentive allocation, placement fee, sales commission, or other transaction-based compensation from the fund or the investment manager in connection with the initial distribution of the units.
Alphaledger is the marketing name of Alpha Ledger Technologies Inc., and its subsidiaries, who provide blockchain technology, smart blockchain-related products, and blockchain support services.
Affiliates of Alphaledger Technologies include an SEC registered transfer agent, Alpha Ledger TA, LLC (“ALTA”), Alphaledger Markets, Inc., (“ALM”), a broker dealer, registered with SEC, FINRA, the MSRB and SIPC, and an investment manager, Alphaledger Investment Management, LLC (“ALIM”). Check the background of ALM and ALIM on FINRA’s BrokerCheck.