meta_id 3504886

On September 17, 2026, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an order granting temporary, conditional exemptive relief under Section 36(a)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to facilitate the on-chain secondary trading of tokenized National Market System (NMS) stock. The order grants two forms of relief: an exemption for certain trading venues (Tokenized Securities Venues, TSVs) from the definition of "exchange" under Section 3(a)(1) of the Exchange Act; and an exemption for certain liquidity providers (Covered Firms) from the definition of "dealer" under Section 3(a)(5) of the Exchange Act. The exemptions expire five years after publication. The anti-fraud and anti-manipulation provisions of the federal securities laws apply in full to all activities within the exempted venues. TSV exchange exemption: A TSV brings together buyers and sellers of tokenized NMS stock by operating one or more automated market maker liquidity pools (AMM Liquidity Pools) for permissioned participants, and setting access standards for those pools. The exemption is subject to conditions including: Limits on the number of symbols and volume traded. Verification that tokenized NMS stock provides holders with the same rights as traditional NMS stock of an equivalent class, including dividend and voting rights. Prior written notice and an opportunity to object by the issuer of the underlying NMS stock before a third-party tokenised security is made available for trading. Use of smart contracts that are auditable, public, and deployed on a public, permissionless distributed ledger. Concurrent trading halts with the primary listing exchange; and public disclosure of TSV operations and trading activities. A TSV must be a US person and comply with OFAC sanctions programs. Limits on the number of symbols and volume traded. Verification that tokenized NMS stock provides holders with the same rights as traditional NMS stock of an equivalent class, including dividend and voting rights. Prior written notice and an opportunity to object by the issuer of the underlying NMS stock before a third-party tokenised security is made available for trading. Use of smart contracts that are auditable, public, and deployed on a public, permissionless distributed ledger. Concurrent trading halts with the primary listing exchange; and public disclosure of TSV operations and trading activities. A TSV must be a US person and comply with OFAC sanctions programs. Dealer exemption for Covered Firms: Liquidity providers that supply tokenized NMS stock using proprietary capital in an AMM Liquidity Pool, and that may also engage in additional dealing indicia such as quoting pricing to customers or entering into committed capital agreements, are conditionally exempted from the dealer definition under Section 3(a)(5) of the Exchange Act. No synthetic securities: TSVs may only trade tokenized NMS stock tokenized by, or on behalf of, the issuer of the underlying NMS stock, or by an unaffiliated third party. Synthetic representations of NMS stock not conferring the same rights as the underlying security are not permitted. The exemptions are set to expire five years after publication. The order solicits public comment about possible modifications to the exemptive relief and potential next steps. The SEC invites public comment on the order, which will be published on SEC.gov and in the Federal Register.