On May 18, 2026, Bloomberg reported, citing informed sources, that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is expected to release an "Innovation Exemption" policy for tokenized stocks as early as this week, providing a new compliance framework for investors betting on the stock price movements of listed companies. The most striking detail of this policy is that the SEC currently tends to allow trading of third-party tokens that have not been endorsed or approved by the listed companies — meaning anyone could theoretically "tokenize" shares of listed companies like Apple and Tesla without obtaining authorization from these companies.

This represents the most disruptive step in the Trump administration's push for the integration of blockchain technology with traditional securities markets. The exemption policy is viewed as one of the most important regulatory initiatives during SEC Chairman Paul Atkins’ tenure and is a core component of its "Project Crypto."

Key Takeaways

• The SEC is expected to release the tokenized stock "Innovation Exemption" policy as early as this week, marking the latest regulatory development reported by Bloomberg.
• The SEC intends to allow third parties to issue and trade tokens corresponding to stocks without requiring the consent of the listed company.
• The exemption period is expected to last 12 to 36 months, with regulatory safeguards such as exposure limits and disclosure requirements.
• Cryptocurrency-native platforms like Coinbase are expected to launch trading of U.S. stock tokens without obtaining a full brokerage dealer license.
• Traditional institutions such as DTCC, Nasdaq, and the New York Stock Exchange are accelerating their layouts, expecting to begin actual trading of tokenized assets between July and October.
• Analysts predict that the market size for tokenized assets may reach $2 trillion to $10 trillion by 2030.

What is the "Innovation Exemption" for Tokenized Stocks?

Tokenized stocks refer to the packaging of traditional stock ownership in publicly traded companies into digital tokens that can be traded on the blockchain. Compared to traditional stock trading, its advantages include faster settlement speeds (close to real-time, while traditional markets are T+1), support for fractional ownership, lower trading costs, and 24/7 trading without interruption.

The SEC's upcoming "Innovation Exemption" is essentially a regulatory sandbox lasting 12 to 36 months. According to Bloomberg's latest report, platforms participating in the exemption do not need to obtain full broker-dealer or exchange registration qualifications, but must meet conditions such as exposure limits, information disclosure, and regular reporting.

The exemption policy also does not change the legal nature of tokenized stocks — as the SEC clarified in guidelines released in January 2026, tokenizing securities does not alter their security attributes; federal securities law governs based on economic substance, fully aligned with the legal status of the underlying asset.

The Most Controversial Core Issue: Third-party Tokenization

The most discussed aspect of this policy is the SEC's inclination to allow third-party issuance of tokenized stocks — meaning third parties can package the stocks of a company into on-chain tokens for trading without obtaining authorization from the listed company.

According to analysis from Crypto Briefing, these third-party tokenized securities will form a parallel stock market on-chain. Proponents argue that it will significantly lower the barriers for retail investors to participate in U.S. stock trading and attract a deeper integration of DeFi protocols and traditional financial markets.

However, opposing voices are also strong. Brett Redfearn, president of Securitize and former head of the SEC's Division of Trading and Markets, pointed out that if third parties can tokenize companies like Apple or Amazon without the participation of the issuer, there could theoretically be an unlimited number of token products from the same company. This could lead to unprecedented fragmentation in the market, making it difficult for investors to ascertain the true value of their holdings.

In fact, according to in-depth reporting from CoinDesk, there is still disagreement within the SEC regarding whether to allow trading of tokenized stocks without issuer participation. This internal tension will define the boundaries and details of the final policy implementation.

Traditional Financial Institutions are Accelerating Layouts

No matter the final specifics of the exemption policy, Wall Street has already taken action.

According to CoinDesk's latest report, the U.S. Securities Clearing Company (DTCC) plans to begin limited actual trading of tokenized assets in July this year and to conduct a larger-scale formal launch in October. Nasdaq was the first to receive SEC approval in March 2026, establishing a foundational framework for blockchain stock issuance; the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), subsequently announced in April that it would expand tokenized stocks and crypto-linked products through a partnership with OKX.

The market size of tokenized assets (RWA, or real-world assets) has currently surpassed $27 billion, and research reports from spaziocrypto show that BlackRock’s BUIDL Fund, Amundi’s SAFO (which raised $400 million in three weeks), and Legal & General (which is tokenizing £50 billion in assets) are leading this trend of institutional tokenization. Multiple analysis firms predict that the tokenized asset market could expand to $2 trillion to $10 trillion by 2030.

Impact on the Crypto Market: Opportunities and Risks Coexist

Positive Aspects

The compliance of tokenized stocks means that the product boundaries of cryptocurrency trading platforms will be greatly expanded. Platforms like Coinbase are expected to provide users with on-chain trading services for U.S. stock tokens such as those of Apple and Nvidia without requiring licensed broker-dealer status, attracting a larger number of traditional investors into the crypto ecosystem.

KuCoin's analysis report indicates that this exemption is the most critical step towards on-chain finance following the approval of tokenized trading by Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange, further reinforcing "Project Crypto" as a banner for structural reform in the U.S. capital market.

Risk Aspects

The core controversy of third-party tokenization lies in the fact that such tokens often do not grant holders real shareholder rights. According to guidelines issued by CoinDesk back in January 2026, the SEC made a clear distinction: issuer-led tokenization can represent true ownership of shares, while third-party tokens are typically merely synthetic tools or custodial arrangements that do not grant voting rights, informational rights, and do not constitute a direct claim against the issuer.

For investors intending to participate in tokenized stock trading, distinguishing between "real equity tokens" and "synthetic tracking tokens" will be the first step in avoiding risks.

Want to Enter the Tokenization Space Now?

If you want to grasp the industry opportunities brought by tokenized stocks as soon as possible, you can trade tokens directly related to the RWA sector and mainstream blockchain infrastructure at MEXC.

Open an account now and position yourself in the tokenization sector

MEXC Crypto Pulse Research Team Exclusive Perspective

The release of the SEC's "Innovation Exemption" indicates a shift in the regulatory attitude towards the tokenized financial market from "tolerant observation" to "actively building a framework." From a market structure perspective, the more profound significance of this policy is that it will drive liquidity to migrate to on-chain, altering the market share landscape of traditional brokers.

For crypto investors, the core opportunity lies not only in tokenized stocks themselves but in the entire infrastructure layer — oracles, settlement protocols, compliance middleware — these segments are likely to benefit first as institutional funds move to the chain on a large scale.

It is noteworthy that the openness of third-party tokenization may bring about regulatory arbitrage behavior in the short term, but in the medium to long term, the sandbox mechanism and "Sunset Provision" set by the SEC suggest that this experiment has a clear exit path: either prove its decentralization to be reclassified as a commodity or complete full registration by the end of the exemption period. The design logic of this mechanism is quite clear and is likely to withstand the pressures of the market.

The MEXC team will continue to track the progress of the formal text release of the exemption policy and analyze its impact on the price paths of various tokenized assets as soon as possible.

FAQ

Q1: What is a Tokenized Stock?

A tokenized stock is a digital token that encapsulates the equity of a publicly traded company using blockchain technology. It retains exposure to the price of the underlying stock but may not necessarily grant the holder real shareholder rights, depending on the method of issuance.

Q2: When will the SEC's "Innovation Exemption" officially take effect?

According to Bloomberg reports, the SEC is expected to announce the policy as early as the week of May 18, 2026. Specific eligibility criteria, applicable scope, conditions, and duration will be confirmed after the release of the formal text.

Q3: What is the difference between third-party tokenized stocks and issuer-led tokenization?

Issuer-led tokenization refers to a public company directly putting its equity onto the blockchain, where token holders have real, legally defined shareholder rights; third-party tokenization refers to independent platforms that package stocks into synthetic products or custodial certificates without requiring authorization from the listed company, typically not granting voting rights or informational rights.

Q4: Can ordinary retail investors participate in tokenized stock trading?

The exemption policy is expected to include exposure limits and KYC requirements for retail investors. Before the formal details are released, ordinary investors should carefully assess related risks, especially the counterparty risks of third-party synthetic tokens.

Q5: What impact does this have on the crypto market?

The compliance of tokenized stocks will bring more types of products to crypto platforms, attracting traditional investors into the on-chain market while further driving the integration of DeFi with traditional finance, which is likely to enhance the overall market liquidity and user scale.

Q6: Where can I trade assets related to the tokenization sector?

You can trade mainstream blockchain infrastructure tokens and RWA-related assets at MEXC.

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