exemption

The updated list of innovative exemptions on the official website of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shows that OKXICE TSV submitted a written notice on October 4, intending to operate under the SEC's temporary exemption mechanism for tokenized securities trading venues.At that time, the list included three entities applying for this exemption: TSV LLC, OKXICE TSV, and Kephas Corporation (Perpetualscom).According to the exemption order issued by the SEC on September 17, relevant trading venues must publish an operational notice on their official website at least 30 calendar days in advance and submit a written notice to the SEC. The SEC emphasized that being listed does not mean that the relevant entities have met the exemption conditions, nor does it imply recognition or approval from the regulatory agency.

The innovation exemption for tokenized securities trading venues launched by the U.S. SEC in September is sparking controversy within the industry regarding blockchain qualification standards. This exemption allows eligible companies to trade tokenized U.S. stocks without registering as traditional securities exchanges, but requires their smart contracts to be auditable, public, and deployed on a public, permissionless blockchain.Currently, three companies have submitted operational intent notices to the SEC. TSV LLC plans to use the privacy-focused Canton Network; OKXICE and Kephas Corp. intend to utilize their respective enterprise group's developed Ethereum Layer 2 networks.In a letter submitted on Thursday, the Solana Policy Institute requested the SEC to tighten the definition of "permissionless," focusing on who actually controls the blockchain, including who can validate or block transactions and modify network rules. Hedera advocates for an expansion of the exemption's scope, arguing that only authorized entities should participate in validation, which should not disqualify their network.The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) also called for clarification on which blockchains are eligible and questioned whether stock tokenization should require explicit prior consent from the issuing company, rather than requiring companies to opt out. The financial regulatory advocacy group Better Markets urged the SEC to withdraw the exemption and instead engage in formal rulemaking.An SEC official stated that companies can begin operations 30 days after submitting a notice, provided they meet the exemption criteria, without waiting for SEC approval, which does not imply SEC endorsement of their chosen blockchain. The official noted that the regulatory agency intends to maintain a broad definition to allow space for companies to experiment; further frequently asked questions may be released, but substantive adjustments would require action from the commission.Meanwhile, more companies are opposing the tokenization of their stocks. As of Friday, among the 62 companies initially listed by OKXICE, 22 have raised objections, exceeding one-third. New objectors include Wells Fargo, Arm, and Intuit.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) stated that three companies have notified it of their plans to operate tokenized securities trading venues (TSV) under the new innovation exemption policy.TSV LLC is held by Obsidian Systems co-founders Ali Abrar and Ryan Trinkle, with Ryan Trinkle also serving as a board member of the Canton Foundation. The platform plans to operate on the Canton Network; OKXICE is a joint venture between OKX and ICE Markets, planning to operate on OKX's Ethereum Layer 2 network X Layer; Kephas Corp. is the U.S. subsidiary of Perpetuals.com, led by founder @PGruhnPDC, who previously served as the head of FTX Europe. This platform plans to operate on the public, permissionless Layer 2 network Kronos X Public, which adopts a licensed trading pool.The SEC stated that being listed does not mean that the relevant companies have met the conditions for the innovation exemption.

According to CoinDesk, Nasdaq-listed fintech company Perpetuals.com plans to offer tokenized trading services for U.S. stocks based on the innovative exemption mechanism introduced by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This plan predates the proposal related to the joint venture between OKX and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).Perpetuals.com CEO Patrick Gruhn co-founded Digital Assets AG, which developed stock-linked tokens for cryptocurrency exchanges including Binance and FTX, and was later acquired by FTX Group. The related trading could potentially start in mid-November, but the company still needs to complete technical and compliance preparations.

Global investment management company Franklin Templeton is exploring regulatory exemptions that would allow tokenized money market funds and ETFs to trade on blockchain trading venues. On October 9, the company met with staff from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) cryptocurrency working group to discuss legal issues related to pricing, fees, and asset pools.The agenda included whether investors could exchange blockchain fund shares for tokenized national market system stocks through blockchain trading venues, and whether liquidity providers could charge service fees. Related issues involve pricing rules under the Investment Company Act and whether exemptions are needed. Regarding tokenized ETFs, Franklin Templeton also discussed forming trading pairs with tokenized stocks, approved payment stablecoins, or tokenized money market funds, as well as whether liquidity pools need to obtain investment company regulatory exemptions.As of September 30, the preliminary disclosed assets under management amounted to $1.79 trillion. Franklin Templeton's blockchain fund record-keeping business began with the launch of the Franklin Onchain U.S. Government Money Fund in 2021. The BENJI token represents shares of this fund, and transferring the token will simultaneously transfer the corresponding shares, with related transactions recorded and tracked by the Benji Technology Platform.

ChainCatcher live report, at the OKX NOW Global Products and Ecosystem Conference (Singapore), OKX Vice President of Strategic Markets Louis Tam announced during a roundtable session that OKX and ICE have submitted a notice to the SEC regarding a tokenized securities trading venue, and eligible OKX customers can now trade perpetual contracts referencing ICE Brent and WTI benchmarks;Former New York Governor and OKX Board Member Governor Andrew Cuomo confirmed that the venue is expected to operate under the SEC's "innovation exemption" mechanism, with a launch anticipated in about 30 days, and the SEC has set limits on the number of tradable stocks and trading volume. Cuomo believes this marks a shift from competition to cooperation and integration between traditional finance and crypto fintech.

The SEC recently made public the comments submitted by Stove Finance regarding the exemption for tokenized stocks.The comments focus on the infrastructure issues after tokenized stocks enter the on-chain market, including asset conversion between traditional securities systems and on-chain ledgers, inventory replenishment, reconciliation, and how corporate actions such as dividends and stock splits maintain consistency across different systems.Stove suggested in the comments that registered broker-dealers be allowed to further participate in the construction of on-chain securities record, reconciliation, and delivery infrastructure, and that a unified standard for asset conversion, settlement status, and corporate actions be established collaboratively by broker-dealers, custodians, transfer agents, and on-chain trading venues.As tokenized stocks gradually enter DeFi scenarios such as AMM and liquidity pools, settlement, asset services, and cross-system interoperability beyond trading are becoming the next issues that the industry needs to address.

According to The Block, Robinhood's Senior Vice President of Cryptocurrency, Johann Kerbrat, stated during the 2026 Korea Blockchain Week that the company is still advancing work related to the "innovation exemption" with the U.S. SEC to support its tokenized stock business.Kerbrat mentioned that as the scale of stock token trading grows, its trading volume may reach the relevant limits set by the SEC.

According to a report by Reuters, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a disbursement of $139 million to El Salvador, following the organization's exemption regarding the Salvadoran government's violation of conditions limiting further accumulation of Bitcoin. The IMF Executive Board completed the second and third reviews of El Salvador's $1.4 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF), allowing for the immediate release of these funds.The IMF stated that El Salvador's economic performance has exceeded expectations, benefiting from improved security conditions and increased investor confidence. The IMF noted that some program performance standards were not met, including indicators related to Bitcoin holdings. However, after El Salvador took strong corrective measures and recommitted, the IMF approved the relevant exemptions.In September, IMF staff indicated that documents provided by El Salvador showed that the increase in Bitcoin following the initial review came from private donations rather than public funds. The IMF also stated that El Salvador has made progress in anti-money laundering measures, fiscal transparency, and transferring majority ownership and control of the state-owned digital wallet Chivo to private operators.

According to Crypto Briefing, Orca's Chief Legal Officer Christopher Montagano stated at the Korea Blockchain Week that the innovation exemption released by the SEC on September 17 provides the conditions to verify whether DeFi blockchain tracks are more efficient than traditional infrastructure.The exemption offers a conditional relief period of 5 years, until September 17, 2031; under this framework, tokenized securities venues and specific liquidity providers can operate tokenized U.S. stock licensed trading without registering as exchanges or brokers.Montagano stated that the exemption is specifically designed for AMM but does not constitute a ruling on DeFi; relevant parties must still comply with sanction rules and obtain issuer consent to distinguish it from unlicensed DeFi. Orca has been involved in discussions with the SEC since 2025 and began trading tokenized stocks in November of the same year.

According to Cointelegraph, former commissioner of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Brian Quintenz stated at the Korea Blockchain Week 2026 that the Clarity Act is not the only way to achieve regulatory certainty for cryptocurrencies. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and CFTC can use their exemptions to fill this regulatory gap.

Grayscale's research director Zach Pandl pointed out that the recent "Innovation Exemption" directive issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is expected to fundamentally change the previous landscape where tokenized U.S. stocks primarily relied on offshore "packaged derivatives" trading, promoting the inclusion of real tokenized stocks with complete shareholder voting rights and dividend rights into the regulated financial system of the United States.This exemption order is valid for 5 years and specifically relaxes two core registration requirements: qualified tokenized trading venues do not need to register as traditional stock exchanges; qualified liquidity providers do not need to register as broker-dealers.Grayscale believes that this marks a significant step as on-chain trading infrastructure is proving to be fully compatible with regulatory compliance and investor protection, and it is expected to drive Congress to advance a broader bipartisan legislative process in the future.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has released an "Innovation Exemption" to establish a pathway for on-chain secondary trading of tokenized stocks. This exemption will be implemented from September 17, 2026, to September 17, 2031, and applies to specific tokenized securities trading venues that provide licensed automated market makers and liquidity pools.Trading venues must be deployed on public, permissionless blockchains, but trading is limited to verified or authorized participants. Eligible tokens must correspond to actual U.S. national market system stocks and grant the same shareholder rights as traditional stocks; this exemption does not cover primary issuances, synthetic exposures, or products that do not have legal or beneficial rights to the underlying stocks. Galaxy stated that it is exploring the next steps to enable on-chain GLXY secondary trading.

Uniswap founder Hayden Adams retweeted a comment letter from U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Hester Peirce supporting autonomous decentralized systems, pointing out that the most favorable news for automated market makers (AMM) today is Hester Peirce's view that truly decentralized systems driven by autonomous software do not need to obtain exemptions, which corresponds to the permissionless nature of Uniswap.Adams stated that the SEC's innovative exemption applies to permissioned liquidity pools on Uniswap v4, providing a pathway for assets and users with relevant compliance needs to conduct transactions in the U.S., which is expected to promote the adoption of AMM. Uniswap will submit a comment letter with suggestions for improvements.

The Chairman of the U.S. SEC, Paul Atkins, stated: For a long time, regulatory uncertainty has hindered responsible yet crucial innovation from taking root in the United States. Reversing this trend has been a priority during his tenure as chairman.Although temporary, the innovation exemption is a principled, structured relief grant aimed at addressing genuine legal uncertainties while providing investor protection and maintaining market integrity standards. Through this order and a series of ongoing initiatives, we will ensure that the United States remains the global preferred destination for building the next generation of financial infrastructure.

Commissioner Hester M. Peirce of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made a statement regarding the committee's approval of the "innovation exemption."This exemption is a temporary, conditional arrangement that allows "tokenized securities venues" (TSV) to trade NMS "National Market System" stocks on-chain: TSV provides automated market maker liquidity pools and sets participant admission standards, and is exempt from the definition of "exchange" under the Securities Exchange Act; specific suppliers providing liquidity to TSV are exempt from the definition of "dealer." If issuers do not wish for their stocks to trade on TSV, they can choose to opt-out. The exemption is aimed at U.S. entities, and both existing institutions and new entrants can participate.Peirce emphasized that the committee does not presuppose that parties relying on this exemption necessarily fall under the definitions of "exchange" or "dealer," but rather hopes to first observe who is using it and how it is being used before making regulatory judgments.Peirce clearly delineated the boundaries of this order: it is not about decentralized finance. Systems that are driven by automated software and are truly decentralized do not raise fundamental concerns of securities regulation, namely that intermediaries trusted by investors may be foolish, careless, or compromised; investors using permissionless smart contracts for peer-to-peer transactions do not fundamentally require an exemption. TSV is merely one model of on-chain securities trading, and the committee is open to other models, as on-chain trading models that can comply with existing Securities Exchange Act requirements may not require an exemption at all.