SEC issues a five-year “Innovation Exemption” — tokenized NMS stocks may trade on permissioned venues without full exchange registration.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, 17 September 2026, unveiled a temporary “Innovation Exemption” that lets platforms facilitate trading of blockchain-based or “tokenized” stocks and other securities under conditional relief from many rules that apply to registered national securities exchanges, according to Reuters and CNBC reporting opened for this pack and a Jones Day client commentary summarising the order. Soft FLAG: this desk did not open a standalone SEC.gov order PDF or Commission press release URL in this run — mechanism and quotes below are attributed to those secondary sources.

The mechanism is conditional exemptive relief, not a permanent rule rewrite. Soft FLAG: Jones Day states the order (i) conditionally exempts tokenized securities venues (TSVs) from the Exchange Act “exchange” definition in section 3(a)(1), (ii) conditionally exempts certain “Covered Firm” liquidity providers in AMM liquidity pools from the “dealer” definition in section 3(a)(5), and (iii) imposes operational, transparency, notice, and recordkeeping conditions, including limits on symbols and volume. Soft FLAG: Jones Day dates effectiveness from 17 September 2026 until 17 September 2031. Soft FLAG: Reuters and CNBC separately describe five-year relief for platforms from exchange-definition rules and for liquidity providers from dealer registration — align with Jones Day’s section citations as secondary reading of the order.

Named conditions as opened sources state them: tokenized stocks under the exemption must offer the same rights and privileges as traditional securities, including dividends and voting rights, Reuters and CNBC report. Soft FLAG: CNBC, citing an SEC spokesperson, says platforms must notify the issuer and wait 30 days after the issuer receives notice before trading a third-party-tokenized stock; if the issuer objects in that window, the venue cannot make that tokenized stock available. Soft FLAG: Reuters says “synthetic” tokens offering derivative-style exposure are not permitted. Soft FLAG: Jones Day adds Tier 1 / Tier 2 symbol and average-daily-volume caps (Tier 1: 75 symbols and 0.25% of prior-month ADV; Tier 2: 250 symbols and 2.5%), U.S.-person venue status, public Notice requirements, and U.S. dollar-denominated transaction data within 10 minutes — detailed conditions via Jones Day, attribute.

SEC Chair Paul Atkins, quoted via Reuters and CNBC: “The Innovation Exemption is designed to resolve challenges that have prevented responsible innovation from taking root in the United States while providing investor protections and market integrity standards.” Soft FLAG: CNBC adds Atkins language that the Commission is not cementing today’s technology as tomorrow’s standard and that the interim measure must be followed by durable rulemaking — attribute to CNBC. Soft FLAG: both outlets note the move came days after the U.S. Senate failed to advance Trump-backed cryptocurrency market-structure legislation — political calendar colour, attribute.

What to watch without mood: first TSV Notices published under the exemption; issuer objections in the 30-day window; whether Coinbase, Robinhood, Kraken or others (named by Reuters/CNBC as having signalled interest or overseas tokenised-equity products) file to operate under the U.S. relief; Commission follow-on rulemaking before 2031.

Floor: SEC Innovation Exemption 17 Sep 2026–17 Sep 2031 (Reuters/CNBC/Jones Day) — conditional TSV “exchange” relief + Covered Firm dealer relief for permissioned AMM trading of tokenized NMS stock; same shareholder rights; issuer 30-day opt-out; synthetics barred; volume/symbol caps (Jones Day).