The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), under Chairman Paul Atkins, is actively exploring regulatory exemptions to advance asset tokenization efforts. This "innovation exemption" initiative aims to ease compliance barriers for novel trading models and provide tailored relief measures, signaling a significant policy shift from the agency's previous enforcement-heavy approach under former Chair Gary Gensler.
Chairman Atkins emphasized the inevitability of tokenization during recent remarks: "Assets clearly are moving on chain. If it can be tokenized, it will be tokenized." The proposal follows the U.S. House's passage of landmark stablecoin legislation – including the GENIUS Act and CLARITY Act – which has been sent to President Trump for approval. Atkins welcomed these developments as establishing "clear rules of the road" for digital assets.
The regulatory shift comes amid explosive growth in tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), with market value surging over 260% in 2025 alone to reach $23 billion, according to Binance Research. Tokenized private credit dominates this space at 58% of the market, followed by tokenized U.S. Treasuries at 34%. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce reinforced that while tokenization facilitates capital formation, "tokenized securities are still securities" requiring adherence to federal laws.
Atkins positioned tokenization as "the next step" in financial system efficiency, with the exemptions designed to help traditional institutions and blockchain-native companies scale tokenization efforts without violating outdated compliance frameworks.