The Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday delayed a plan to provide broad exemptions for US crypto firms to trade tokenized assets linked to stocks. The SEC’s staff was preparing to release its so-called innovation exemption for tokenized stocks as soon as this week, sources told Bloomberg. A draft of the plan had been prepared and reviewed by staff, but will now have to wait before being announced.
Blockchain-based tokenized stocks are something that investors in both the crypto and stock markets have been looking out for for months. Tokenization was meant to be a unifier between the traditional and digital assets industry, along with the passage of the Crypto Clarity Act. However, both appeared delayed indefinitely while more deliberation is needed.
SEC Chair Paul Atkins had previously indicated the agency would soon debut its proposed innovation exemption that could function as a regulatory sandbox for on-chain equities. The delay affects companies preparing to launch tokenized asset projects under the anticipated framework. Amid criticism of the delayed exemption, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce also defended the proposal’s narrow focus.
The framework was “limited in scope and would facilitate trading only of digital representations of the same underlying equity security that an investor could purchase in the secondary market today, not synthetics,” Peirce wrote on X. She added that she appreciates public interest in the rule, but not the hyperbole surrounding it.
The SEC has abruptly delayed its plan to allow tokenized US stocks, citing concerns over third-party tokens, investor protections, and potential misuse by overseas bad actors.