Wu said he learned that Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy Research, said that the latest SEC innovative exemption for tokenized securities allows third-party tokenized stocks, but its scope is narrower than what is currently referred to in the market as “third-party tokenized” stocks. The tokenized assets must represent actual NMS-listed stocks and grant holders full legal, economic, and governance rights; notes, swaps, SPV interests, or other wrapped securities that only provide exposure to a stock price do not qualify.

Thorn noted that some third-party tokenized stock models currently in the market, such as those from Robinhood, Ondo, and xStocks, differ from this standard. In particular, Robinhood Stock Tokens are defined by the company itself as “tokenized debt securities” that provide economic exposure; holders do not own any legal or beneficial ownership in the underlying company, and therefore do not meet the SEC exemption criteria for this case.