The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has clarified that venues seeking to operate under its temporary tokenised-stock exemption must publish a public operating notice at least 30 calendar days before starting, according to staff guidance published on October 20.
The guidance requires venues to have their operations and access standards ready for production when they disclose them, and to keep the notice accurate as details change. It also warns that a platform cannot simply announce its intention to trade tokenised shares and begin immediately. Where a venue proposes to trade shares tokenised by a third party, a separate objection period may still be running; in such cases the venue may disclose the pending status but cannot make those shares available before the relevant period concludes without an objection.
The SEC staff FAQs interpret a conditional order rather than create a generally applicable new rule with the force of law, and the exemption remains limited in scope. The wider significance is that U.S. regulators are testing whether distributed-ledger market infrastructure can be introduced with ordinary disclosure, investor rights and accountability still visible to the public.
In parallel, the SEC launched an Innovation Exemption website to enhance transparency in digital asset trading. The site includes FAQs, a list of Trading and Securities Valuation resources, and direct contact information for inquiries. The move may boost institutional interest by clarifying processes for obtaining innovation exemptions and providing clearer communication channels as the market navigates evolving regulations.
