The Congressional Market Structure Act is the bottleneck, and the SEC first made an opening for itself.
On Thursday (September 17), the SEC issued a temporary conditional Innovation Exemption: it allows certain on-chain venues (Tokenized Securities Venues) to trade tokenized NMS-listed stocks, and grants related market makers/liquidity providers a partial dealer registration exemption for up to five years. CNBC says it takes effect immediately; Reuters also confirmed the five-year relief on the platform side regarding the “exchange definition.”
Hard conditions worth watching—not just slogans:
1️⃣ Tokens must be treated on par with traditional securities—include dividend and voting rights; derivative-style tokens like “synthetic exposure” are not allowed.
2️⃣ The platform must first notify the issuer; after receiving the notice, wait 30 days. If the issuer objects, the underlying cannot be listed on the platform.
3️⃣ There are limits on trading volume and requirements for transparency. This is a trial run—not something that simply copies the NYSE onto the blockchain with a one-click setup.
Official remarks by Chair Paul Atkins: address the obstacles that hinder responsible innovation while preserving investor protection and market integrity; after a temporary exemption, there will still be formal rulemaking.
Abroad, Coinbase/Robinhood/Kraken and others already have tokenized equity products; on the U.S. retail side, people have been waiting for the rules. Today’s move is more like using existing authorization to draw the boundary, rather than waiting for Congress to cast another vote.
My take: the direction matters more than the details. The main-line assets in U.S. equities are moving toward on-chain, and regulators are using a “withdrawable five-year experiment” to get data. It doesn’t mean the whole market opens 24/7 immediately, nor does it constitute investment advice.
Source: Reuters / CNBC (2026-09-17); SEC Chair Atkins’ statement.