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The SEC is about to legalize the most disruptive shareholder-rights workaround in nine decades. This week, SEC Chair Paul Atkins is expected to release the agency’s Innovation Exemption, a 12-to-36-month sandbox that lets tokenized US stocks trade on public blockchains and DeFi venues, with the issuing company’s consent expressly not required.

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What happened

On May 18, Bloomberg reported that the SEC is preparing to release its long-signaled Innovation Exemption for tokenized securities. The framework allows digital tokens linked to public-company shares, including tokens issued by third parties without the underlying company’s consent, to trade on decentralized platforms and automated market makers under lighter-touch registration. [NEWS]

The agency is targeting issuance on or around May 18, 2026, with full guardrails: KYC/AML, verified-buyer whitelists, exposure limits, and disclosure requirements during the sandbox window.

Zooming in: Tokenised stock is moving rapidly. Nasdaq won SEC approval for its tokenized-share order book on March 18, 2026. NYSE is building a separate 24/7 venue with BNY Mellon and Citi for tokenized deposit and stablecoin settlement. DTCC, which custodies over $114T in assets, is scheduled to begin limited production trades of tokenized stocks and ETFs in July 2026, with full platform launch in October.

The state of market: Tokenized equity value grew from $350M in mid-2025 to $1.43B by May 2026. The leading platforms include Ondo, xStocks, Securitize, WisdomTree and Superstate.