Two separate but converging moves this week underline how crypto-linked assets are moving deeper into the core plumbing of traditional finance—from clearing and settlement to retail distribution.
Brazil’s B3 breaks new ground
B3, the São Paulo stock exchange, registered the first guaranteed over-the-counter (OTC) flexible option tied to Hashdex’s crypto-index ETF, HASH11. The trade, executed between Inter and XP, used B3’s clearinghouse as the central counterparty (CCP), placing a crypto ETF exposure inside the same back-office machinery that handles margin, clearing, and settlement for all regulated derivatives. This is precisely the infrastructure layer that Wall Street has been lobbying U.S. regulators to open to tokenized assets.
BlackRock, for instance, told the CFTC in 2025 that tokenized money market funds and stablecoins should be eligible as collateral in both cleared and uncleared derivatives markets. An offshore example emerged in April 2026 when Standard Chartered built a framework for institutional OKX clients to post BlackRock’s tokenized Treasury fund, BUIDL, as collateral while Standard Chartered retained custody. Brazil’s HASH11 flexible option is customizable by maturity, strike, quantity, and optional features like barriers, and it directly demonstrates how crypto-linked exposure can enter a regulated clearing stack.
B3’s collateral pool already sits at roughly $146 billion, with real estate funds added on May 6. While Selic federal debt still accounts for more than 82% of the pool, the move to accept HASH11 as a derivative underlier marks a symbolic inclusion of crypto into core risk-management infrastructure. Brazil’s track record on rapid financial innovation is well established: Pix, the central bank’s instant-payment rail, launched in 2020 and surpassed $5 trillion in volume by 2024, and Brazil listed the world’s first crypto ETF in 2021 and launched Bitcoin futures on B3 in April 2024. Those futures have now traded $400 billion in volume and over 41 million contracts, with non-resident investors making up 53% of participation.
Prometheum bets on broker-dealer distribution
While Brazil tackles the clearing and settlement side, New York-based Prometheum is addressing what it sees as the missing link for tokenized securities: distribution. “The story of tokenization so far has been about issuance, but no one has addressed how to get those products to mainstream investors,” said co-CEO Aaron Kaplan in an interview. “Until tokenized and digitally-native securities can reach investors through the broker-dealer channels they already use, tokenization is a solution without a market.”
Prometheum recently launched Digital Brokerage Solutions, a suite of correspondent clearing, custody, and trading services designed to let broker-dealers offer crypto assets and tokenized securities directly through traditional brokerage accounts. The firm operates a network of SEC-registered and FINRA-member entities—a transfer agent, broker-dealer, alternative trading system, custody platform, and correspondent clearing infrastructure. Its clearing-enabled custodian is what Kaplan calls the “special sauce.” Prometheum also joined the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) Industry Working Group in May to help shape DTC’s tokenization service.
The company’s “flywheel” strategy connects issuers of tokenized securities with institutional distribution, while giving traditional broker-dealers a way to compete with crypto-native exchanges under existing securities rules. Inaugural clients include Arete Wealth Management, Network 1 Financial Securities, and an unnamed clearing broker-dealer. Kaplan expects more broker-dealers and registered investment advisers (RIAs) to onboard soon and teased a forthcoming institutional distribution partnership.
A broader infrastructure thesis
Both B3’s OTC option and Prometheum’s brokerage push represent a significant shift: crypto is no longer just a speculative asset class but is being woven into the systems that underpin global capital markets. Where BlackRock is still making a regulatory case in Washington, Brazil has already delivered a working model. And where tokenized securities have struggled to find liquidity, Prometheum aims to plug them into the broker-dealer networks that reach millions of investors. The distance between where Wall Street wants to go and where these infrastructure pieces are already falling into place is narrowing fast.
