SEC tokenized stock exemptions should be targeted, stock exchanges argue

The US Securities and Exchange Commission shouldn’t grant broad regulatory relief to crypto companies launching tokenized stock offerings, a stock exchange advocacy group has argued. 

The World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) said in a Nov. 21 to the SEC that it was “alarmed at the plethora of brokers and crypto-trading platforms offering or intending to offer so-called tokenized US stocks.”

“These products are marketed as stock tokens or the equivalent to stocks when they are not,” the group said. “This development poses multiple and interconnected risks.”

Multiple crypto exchanges are seeking to offer in the US, allowing investors to buy exposure to public companies without owning shares. They’re touted as having faster settlements compared to stock exchanges and can be traded at any time, not just during market hours.

Crypto companies that aren’t SEC-registered broker-dealers would have to get an exemption from the agency, and its chair, Paul Atkins, has .

Tokenized stock exemption relief must be “targeted,” group says

The WFE, which counts Cboe and the Nasdaq as members, said it supports the SEC using exemptive relief, but it is “concerned that the broad use of such relief presents risks to investors and market integrity.”

“We simply believe that this authority is most effective when exercised in a targeted manner and not applied as a means to circumvent or fast-track exemptions to longstanding regulatory requirements,” it added.

The WFE said tokenization “is likely a natural evolution in capital markets” and that it was “pro-innovation,” but that it “must be done in a responsible way that does not put investors or market integrity at risk.”

The group said it would be better for the SEC to make a to garner feedback rather than to “seek to make large-scale changes with exemptive relief.”

“Alternatively, the Commission could consider the creation of a sandbox regime or other innovation facilitator,” it added.

In August, the WFE urged the SEC, the European Securities and Markets Authority and the International Organization of Securities Commissions for of tokenized stocks, arguing they lacked investor protections. 

SEC weighs exemptions for tokenized stocks 

Atkins, a former crypto lobbyist, has said an “innovation exemption” to relieve crypto firms from certain regulations, thereby speeding up the process of bringing crypto and blockchain products to market. 

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“An innovation exemption could help fulfill President Trump’s vision to make America the crypto capital of the planet by encouraging developers, entrepreneurs, and other firms that are willing to comply with certain conditions to innovate with onchain technologies in the United States,” he told a group of crypto executives at a meeting in June.

US trading platforms have begun lining up to offer tokenized stocks under the crypto-friendly SEC. Robinhood Markets began offering hundreds of tokenized stocks to European investors in June, with the intention of bringing the same products to the US, following a similar offer by Kraken a month earlier.

Coinbase also reportedly sought SEC approval in June to , with its legal chief, Paul Grewal, saying it was a “huge priority” for the crypto exchange.

Non-crypto companies are also getting in on the action. In September, Nasdaq requested with the SEC to allow the exchange to list tokenized stocks.

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