tZERO

tZERO is a digital-asset securities group whose regulated broker-dealer arm, tZERO Securities, operates the Lynq real-time settlement network. Where most settlement infrastructure in the sector is built by unregulated software companies, tZERO's role is the licensed one: it is the registered entity that institutional participants actually contract with.

What it does

tZERO supplies the regulatory perimeter around onchain settlement. Its broker-dealer arm is registered with the SEC and is a member of FINRA and SIPC, and a sister entity provides custodial services for digital asset securities. In practice that means tZERO handles onboarding, custody and trading access for participants, while the underlying settlement technology comes from elsewhere in the consortium.

Its role in Lynq

Lynq was developed jointly by three parties: Arca Labs contributed asset-management expertise, Tassat contributed the settlement technology, and tZERO operates the platform. The network is described by its own operators as broker-dealer-operated, which is the distinction tZERO exists to supply.

Why it matters on Avalanche

tZERO is one of the clearer cases of a regulated intermediary choosing an application-specific chain rather than shared blockspace. The settlement network it operates runs on a dedicated, permissioned Avalanche L1 with a controlled validator set, so the regulatory and the technical perimeters are drawn in the same place.