Tokenized US Stocks: the SEC Exemption Explained

On September 17, 2026, the US Securities and Exchange Commission cleared trading in tokenized US stocks for five years, but only under tight conditions and only for trading venues based in the United States. The supply is therefore being created over there, while the questions of access, taxation and custody arise for you here. This article sets out what the decision regulates, what it expressly leaves open and which points you should check before you buy such a token.

What the SEC's Innovation Exemption decided on September 17

The Innovation Exemption is a time-limited exemption with which the SEC releases certain trading venues for tokenized stocks from the requirement to register as an exchange. The regulator issued it on September 17, 2026 as an order with the number 34-106402. The relief runs until September 17, 2031, exactly five years; after that it lapses, unless the SEC has created a permanent rule by then.

Legally, two exemptions are involved. First, the platforms concerned are no longer classified as an exchange under the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Second, market participants who provide capital in these platforms' liquidity pools do not, under certain conditions, have to register as securities dealers. Together, the two remove precisely the hurdles on which tokenized stocks have so far snagged in the United States.