The Securities and Exchange Commission granted a temporary regulatory pathway for certain trading venues to issue and trade tokenized versions of publicly traded U.S. stocks effective immediately. Under the "Innovation Exemption," Tokenized Securities Venues can facilitate the trading of National Market System stocks using permissioned automated market makers and liquidity pools without registering as exchanges. These venues must ensure all tokens carry the same rights as the underlying shares and require that every trader and liquidity provider be permissioned.

The order expires five years after publication and explicitly excludes synthetic instruments, such as debt-based stock tokens or perpetuals. Publicly traded companies retain the right to object to and block the tokenization of their stock by third parties. The SEC is now soliciting public comment to determine possible modifications to the relief and identify potential next steps for permanent regulation.