SEC opens route for tokenised US stocks

• The SEC has granted temporary relief for qualifying tokenised US stocks to trade through permissioned onchain venues.
• The framework allows automated market makers and liquidity pools under strict trading and shareholder-rights conditions.
• The exemption gives Coinbase a potential route for US tokenised stocks, but its current products remain unavailable to US users.

The SEC has granted a five-year conditional exemption for qualifying tokenised US stocks to trade on permissioned onchain venues.

The framework allows Tokenised Securities Venues to use automated market makers and liquidity pools for secondary trading.

“The Innovation Exemption, while temporary, would allow TSVs to trade tokenised NMS stock in a permissioned environment today,” said SEC Chairman Paul Atkins.

Eligible tokens must provide holders with the same rights as equivalent traditional shares, including dividends, voting and liquidation rights.

The exemption also excludes synthetic stock products and limits the number of eligible stocks and trading volume.

Coinbase has already issued one-to-one-backed tokenised stocks on Base, but its current products operate under Regulation S and remain unavailable to US persons.

The SEC has set the exemption to expire after five years while it collects public feedback and considers longer-term rules for onchain stock trading.