The Securities and Exchange Commission has delayed a plan to provide exemptions for cryptocurrency exchanges to trade tokenized real assets.
The securities regulator was preparing to issue an “innovation exemption” for tokenized shares as soon as this week, and a draft plan has been prepared and reviewed by staff.
However, the timing has since been postponed as the SEC considers input from exchange officials and other market participants. I mentioned Bloomberg cited people familiar with the matter on Saturday.
the Exemption It would have allowed token shares to be traded on decentralized exchanges that do not have the support or approval of public companies that track their shares.
Experts weigh the pros and cons
However, the SEC noted that allowing third-party token trading has raised concerns. Several former regulators have reportedly said it is unclear how companies can meet the same standards for rights as cryptocurrencies are traded on third-party blockchains.
Bloomberg also reported that public companies may face uncertainty over normal practices such as issuing dividends and counting shareholder votes. There has also been concern about the tokens getting into the hands of bad actors abroad.
SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce said earlier this week that any exemption would be “limited in scope” by only allowing “digital representations of the same underlying securities that an investor could purchase on the secondary market today.”
“The SEC deserves a lot of credit for diligently preparing for the legislation and moving forward quickly under its existing authority to provide clarity to markets in adopting tokens in capital markets,” Paul Grewal, chief legal officer at Coinbase, said on Saturday.
Thank you @Hester Pearce. @coinbase I have long supported the SEC staff’s thoughtful comments that have already been published about tokenization.
The SEC already has the existing authority it needs to allow innovation in securities markets, particularly for real, on-chain tokenized NMS shares that… https://t.co/Mwr5VBrSVQ
– Paul Grewal (@iampaulgrewal) May 23, 2026
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Meanwhile, Tiger Research Director Ryan Yoon to caution Allowing third-party trading of tokenized shares may risk fragmentation of liquidity and revenues. He said the move could create “price inconsistencies across platforms,” as well as increase slippage on large orders, and ultimately “reduce overall market efficiency.”
He added that financial revenues that should return to domestic US exchanges could flow abroad instead. Benefits of this move could include faster settlement, fractional ownership, lower transaction costs, 24/7 trading, and giving non-US citizens access to popular US stocks.
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