The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is preparing to unveil an “innovation exemption” for tokenized stocks that would enable trading of digital representations of securities, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.
According to anonymous sources cited by Bloomberg, the SEC’s framework for tokenized stock trading—developed under the direction of the Trump administration—is expected to be finalized this week. The proposal would allow these tokenized assets to trade on decentralized crypto platforms, a development Bloomberg said could reshape the structure of the American stock market.
Major Shift in U.S. Crypto Infrastructure
Since mid-2025, SEC Chair Paul Atkins has signaled support for asset tokenization, including regulatory exemptions intended to accelerate on-chain securities trading. This approach aligns with broader U.S. policy goals to maintain leadership in digital asset innovation.
Reuters reported that the SEC is inclined to permit trading of tokenized shares even when the tokens lack explicit backing or consent from the public companies whose equity they mirror. Those tokens may not confer conventional shareholder rights such as voting privileges or dividend claims, the report said.
If adopted, the framework could represent one of the most significant integrations of crypto infrastructure into traditional securities markets to date. It would enable round-the-clock trading of digital securities, open the door to decentralized finance (DeFi) integrations for equity-like instruments, and stimulate growth of trading venues and custodial platforms that handle tokenized assets.
DeFi analyst Ignas noted the potential upside across a range of assets and lending markets, naming projects and protocols that could benefit—ONDO, CFG, PENDLE, HYPE—and markets that accept tokenized collateral, such as AAVE, MORPHO, and FLUID. The analyst emphasized that tokenization is moving from conceptual planning to formal policy, fundamentally changing how markets operate by enabling continuous trading and decentralized settlement rails.
“We’ve entered a global race to tokenize money and capital markets,” commented Token Terminal.
“The economic advantages of asset tokenization are too good to ignore, which is why we believe that all other major nations and economic zones will try to follow the U.S. playbook when it comes to stablecoins and asset tokenization.”
Tokenized Stocks Still a Small Market Segment
Despite the potential regulatory shift, tokenized stocks remain a relatively small portion of the broader real-world asset (RWA) tokenization market. RWA.xyz reports tokenized equities account for about $1.45 billion, roughly 4.3% of distributed total value locked (TVL).
Tokenized U.S. Treasuries dominate the space, representing roughly 46% of the $15.5 billion total TVL in tokenized RWAs. Ethereum—counting its layer-2 solutions—remains the dominant blockchain for tokenization, holding more than 60% market share of tokenized real-world assets.