Wall Street Opens Door to Tokenized Stocks with New Regulatory Facilitations

The US stock market is entering a new phase of digital experimentation as plans to launch tokenized stock trading platforms accelerate, following the US Securities and Exchange Commission's grant of a temporary and conditional regulatory exemption that allows the trading of some US stocks via blockchain networks.

The Commission issued what is known as an "innovation waiver" on September 17, 2026, which allows qualified platforms to trade tokenized securities outside some traditional "exchange" definition requirements, within a framework lasting five years and subject to regulatory and supervisory conditions.

This move has accelerated plans by financial companies and platforms to launch tokenized stock trading services within the United States, after most such products were previously available only in limited forms or to investors outside the US market. The "Wall Street Journal" notes that major exchanges and financial firms are now viewing the use of blockchain in stock trading and settlement more seriously.

Digital Stocks with Full Shareholder Rights
Tokenized stocks differ depending on the product structure and the rights they grant to investors. Some represent the stock itself on the blockchain network, granting its holder rights similar to those of a traditional shareholder, while other products outside this framework do not grant actual ownership but merely track the stock's price movement.

An example of the first type is the tokenized Figure Technology Solutions stock, from which Martin Koopman, Chief Product Officer at Hazeltree, purchased a stake via the Figure platform. The tokenized stock represents the stock itself, not just an instrument linked to its price, and can be traded and settled through blockchain-based infrastructure.

In contrast, there are tokenized products linked to stocks like GameStop that do not necessarily grant holders direct ownership, voting rights, or dividends, but may only provide exposure to price movements.

Here lies the fundamental regulatory difference; the new SEC exemption requires that tokenized stocks traded on platforms covered by the exemption grant the same rights and privileges as traditional stocks, including dividends and voting. The issuing company also has the right to object to the trading of a tokenized version of its shares.

Temporary Regulation Opens the Door to the Market
The measure does not represent comprehensive approval of all forms of tokenized stocks, but rather a limited and temporary regulatory experiment allowing the agency to test new trading models before establishing permanent rules.

The SEC stated that the goal is to allow the trading of some tokenized stocks through a licensed environment based on blockchain networks, while preserving investor rights and protecting the market. The agency also requested comments from the market regarding the new framework, paving the way for the potential development of more durable rules in the future.

24/7 Trading and Faster Settlement
Proponents of tokenization believe the technology could allow for 24/7 trading in the future, speed up settlement processes, reduce some infrastructure costs, and expand access to US markets.

However, these advantages are met with risks related to liquidity outside traditional trading hours, cybersecurity, price manipulation, and varying levels of oversight between platforms, reasons that have led some financial institutions to demand additional controls before expanding the market.

The SEC also emphasized in previous statements that the use of blockchain does not change the legal nature of the asset; if the asset is a security, it remains subject to US securities laws even if represented in digital token form.

Will Blockchain Become Part of the Stock Market?
The latest move places the United States before a practical test of integrating traditional stock market infrastructure with digital asset technologies, but the market is still in an early stage, and tokenized stocks have not yet become a widespread alternative to traditional trading.

The success of the experiment will determine the ability of these platforms to provide sufficient liquidity, protect shareholder rights, and comply with market rules, without creating a less transparent or protected parallel market.