Why this investment bank expects little demand for tokenized stocks despite SEC’s new trading rules

The SEC framework allows trading through automated market makers, or AMMs, rather than a traditional order book. An AMM holds pools of assets and uses preset rules to price trades. That could allow stock tokens to trade around the clock as long as a pool has enough assets.

But round-the-clock trading does not necessarily mean better trading, according to Noch, as thin liquidity can produce poor prices.

The SEC has also placed tight limits on its experiment. Tokens must represent NMS stocks and preserve the economic interest, dividends, voting rights and liquidation rights attached to the underlying shares. Third-party tokenizers must notify a company before trading its stock, giving the issuer 30 days to object. Trading volume is capped.

Those requirements could make the U.S. model harder to adopt than tokenized stock products already offered overseas.

Issuer interest is another question.

“Our conversations with dozens of issuers, including several highly retail-facing, have revealed minimal interest in tokenizing their stocks outside crypto-adjacent companies such as Figure,” Noch wrote.

Figure offers a glimpse at the size of that hurdle. Its Nasdaq-listed FIGR shares trade alongside blockchain-native FGRS shares that carry the same economic exposure and voting rights. Yet 99.9% of Figure’s notional trading took place through its traditional listed shares during the 24-hour period examined by TD.