SEC grants five-year exemption for tokenized stock trading venues

The Securities and Exchange Commission granted temporary relief from the Exchange Act definition of an exchange to venues trading tokenized U.S. listed stocks through permissioned automated liquidity pools.

The order is conditional. A venue must limit the symbols and volume traded, verify that the token carries the same rights as the underlying stock, halt trading when the primary exchange does, and use public, auditable smart contracts.

It also grants conditional dealer relief to some liquidity providers using their own capital. The exemptions expire five years after publication while the SEC considers further action.