SEC Greenlights On-Chain Stock Trading for Select Tokenized Securities

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has granted conditional relief for tokenized securities venues to trade certain U.S.-listed stocks on-chain. The move is seen as a significant step towards integrating blockchain-based markets with traditional capital markets.

The exemption, which will remain in place for up to five years, allows qualifying Tokenized Securities Venues (TSVs) to trade actual tokenized stocks that carry the same rights as their traditional shares, including voting rights and dividends. This is a clear distinction from synthetic versions of tokens that only follow the price of a stock.

The SEC has also given public companies a say in third-party tokenization of their shares. An unaffiliated firm can tokenize a public company's stock, but the token cannot begin trading through a TSV if the issuer objects.