SEC Approves Tokenized Stock Trading with Five-Year Innovation Exemption

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has approved a five-year exemption to facilitate the trading of tokenized stocks, moving forward with digital asset rulemaking despite the failure of major crypto legislation.

On September 17, 2026, the SEC announced the “Innovation Exemption,” granting exemptive relief for platforms to enable on-chain secondary trading of certain tokenized equities. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins stated the action was taken within the Commission’s statutory authority to modernize capital markets, following Congress’s inability to advance the Clarity Act in a procedural vote earlier in the week.

Jamie Selway, Director of the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets, called the approval an important milestone for opening capital markets to tokenized securities. The move signals regulators are proceeding with their own rulemaking agendas, a stance echoed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The stalled Clarity Act sought to formally divide regulatory oversight of digital assets between the SEC and CFTC. Its failure in the Senate, where a vote was 49-50 against advancement, leaves regulatory boundaries undefined, but the SEC’s exemption provides a new pathway for tokenized stock trading.