Vertalo partners with The Token Playbook - The Independent resource for RWA Tokenization
An objective and exhaustive RWA Tokenization resource and side project by Vertalo's CEO Dave Hendricks
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I founded Vertalo in 2017 and after our pioneering and arguably first Reg D/S equity tokenization in March of 2018 I pivoted the company to become a ‘Digital Asset Data Management’ platform and purpose-built, API-first digital transfer agent.
With more than 9 years of experience tokenizing assets under my belt, and more than 20,000 client and partner calls and demos, I’ve learned a tremendous amount about how RWA and Securities Tokenization actually works in the real world, and what doesn’t.
I’ve been writing about this topic on ChainEnabled for several years now because I think the practitioners actually doing this work deserve better signal than what’s available. Most of what gets published in this space is either written for outsiders trying to understand the basics, or it’s marketing material dressed up as analysis.
The new resource and site that I built is based on a similar idea, but in the form of an independent informational platform instead of a Vertalo marketing newsletter. It’s called The Token Playbook, and it launched this week.
I want to be specific about what it is and who it’s for, because “another RWA resource” doesn’t do it justice. It’s not a price oracle, it’s not BCG/McKinsey/Accenture/Gartner paid consulting analysis, and it’s not biased.
The Registry is a structured directory of 500+ companies operating across the RWA and tokenization ecosystem, sorted by many dimensions including services offered, chain, jurisdiction, and function. Each entry links to the people, deals, and activity associated with that company. If you’re an issuer evaluating which transfer agents support your target chain, where to trade RWAs, an investor trying to understand who’s operating in a specific jurisdiction, or a lawyer trying to map the competitive field for a client, the Registry does that work without requiring you to assemble it from scratch. Companies that choose to sponsor the registry can upload documents, events, jobs, and more and because we have enabled AI-LLM search (but not scraping), updating your registry listing should make ex-TTP search more effective as well.
The Jobs Board tracks HUNDREDS of open roles across the ecosystem. You use it as a capital deployment signal - where companies are hiring tells you more about where real money is moving than any analyst report does. If you’re in the market, it’s obvious why it’s useful. If you’re not, it’s still one of the better leading indicators in the space.
The AI Advisor is built for the questions practitioners actually ask: how does ERC-3643 compare to DS Protocol for a Reg D offering, what does the SEC’s January 28 tokenization statement mean for my structure, which custodians are currently supporting Aptos-native assets. It’s not ChatGPT with a crypto prompt searching the same old sources, rather it’s trained on the regulatory record, the protocols, the SEC and CFTC output, and the actual infrastructure decisions that matter. TTP uses all of these reputable sources to drive higher quality inference, not just links.
The Book - at more than 1000 pages - is designed as a living wiki, not a static document I will update from time to time, but most importantly MEMBER contributions are a core part of how it works. If you’re a lawyer who has developed a specific view on how Model 3 tokenization structures survive a Howey analysis, or a builder who has actually deployed on multiple chains and has opinions about the operational differences, you can contribute that. Contributions go through editorial review, but the goal is for TTP to reflect the actual knowledge of the people doing this work, not just my own perspective.
The Events Calendar tracks what’s happening, when, and where (conferences, webinars, regulatory hearings, market-moving dates).
There is much more on the site, including a daily news digest, ‘The Big Story’, a ‘debate stage’ where the most engaged conversations on X.com are highlighted, and all of this can get sent to you via a daily email.
Who it’s for
If you’re issuing tokenized securities, TTP is where you find the service providers, understand the regulatory treatment across jurisdictions, and track the market structure you’re operating in.
If you’re investing in tokenized assets, it’s where you research the ecosystem, track jobs and capital flows as a leading indicator, and get a faster read on infrastructure and protocol decisions.
If you’re practicing securities law in this space, the Registry and the AI Advisor handle the research load that currently requires an associate and 3 hours of PDFs.
If you’re building protocol infrastructure, it’s where you track the regulatory record, understand where institutional adoption is actually happening, and find the service providers you need to integrate with.
If you’re a transfer agent, a custodian, a broker-dealer, or any other market structure participant, it’s where you track what’s changing, find partners, and understand where the market is going.
One thing I want to be clear about
This is a side project. Vertalo is a sponsor and appears in the Registry, but it doesn’t get special treatment and I don’t use TTP to pull punches for anyone -Vertalo included. When I write about transfer agents or the Coin Center letter or the DTC no-action guidance, I write what I think is accurate, not what’s convenient for my company. The same editorial standard that applies to ChainEnabled applies to TTP. That’s not a disclaimer; it’s the whole point.
The TTP platform works because it’s objective. If it starts gaming the system for any participant, it stops being useful to everyone else, and that defeats the purpose.
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Start a 14-day free trial at the link below. No card required.
— Dave