exemption

Grayscale's research director Zach Pandl pointed out that the recent "Innovation Exemption" directive issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is expected to fundamentally change the previous landscape where tokenized U.S. stocks primarily relied on offshore "packaged derivatives" trading, promoting the inclusion of real tokenized stocks with complete shareholder voting rights and dividend rights into the regulated financial system of the United States.This exemption order is valid for 5 years and specifically relaxes two core registration requirements: qualified tokenized trading venues do not need to register as traditional stock exchanges; qualified liquidity providers do not need to register as broker-dealers.Grayscale believes that this marks a significant step as on-chain trading infrastructure is proving to be fully compatible with regulatory compliance and investor protection, and it is expected to drive Congress to advance a broader bipartisan legislative process in the future.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has released an "Innovation Exemption" to establish a pathway for on-chain secondary trading of tokenized stocks. This exemption will be implemented from September 17, 2026, to September 17, 2031, and applies to specific tokenized securities trading venues that provide licensed automated market makers and liquidity pools.Trading venues must be deployed on public, permissionless blockchains, but trading is limited to verified or authorized participants. Eligible tokens must correspond to actual U.S. national market system stocks and grant the same shareholder rights as traditional stocks; this exemption does not cover primary issuances, synthetic exposures, or products that do not have legal or beneficial rights to the underlying stocks. Galaxy stated that it is exploring the next steps to enable on-chain GLXY secondary trading.

Uniswap founder Hayden Adams retweeted a comment letter from U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Hester Peirce supporting autonomous decentralized systems, pointing out that the most favorable news for automated market makers (AMM) today is Hester Peirce's view that truly decentralized systems driven by autonomous software do not need to obtain exemptions, which corresponds to the permissionless nature of Uniswap.Adams stated that the SEC's innovative exemption applies to permissioned liquidity pools on Uniswap v4, providing a pathway for assets and users with relevant compliance needs to conduct transactions in the U.S., which is expected to promote the adoption of AMM. Uniswap will submit a comment letter with suggestions for improvements.

The Chairman of the U.S. SEC, Paul Atkins, stated: For a long time, regulatory uncertainty has hindered responsible yet crucial innovation from taking root in the United States. Reversing this trend has been a priority during his tenure as chairman.Although temporary, the innovation exemption is a principled, structured relief grant aimed at addressing genuine legal uncertainties while providing investor protection and maintaining market integrity standards. Through this order and a series of ongoing initiatives, we will ensure that the United States remains the global preferred destination for building the next generation of financial infrastructure.

Commissioner Hester M. Peirce of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made a statement regarding the committee's approval of the "innovation exemption."This exemption is a temporary, conditional arrangement that allows "tokenized securities venues" (TSV) to trade NMS "National Market System" stocks on-chain: TSV provides automated market maker liquidity pools and sets participant admission standards, and is exempt from the definition of "exchange" under the Securities Exchange Act; specific suppliers providing liquidity to TSV are exempt from the definition of "dealer." If issuers do not wish for their stocks to trade on TSV, they can choose to opt-out. The exemption is aimed at U.S. entities, and both existing institutions and new entrants can participate.Peirce emphasized that the committee does not presuppose that parties relying on this exemption necessarily fall under the definitions of "exchange" or "dealer," but rather hopes to first observe who is using it and how it is being used before making regulatory judgments.Peirce clearly delineated the boundaries of this order: it is not about decentralized finance. Systems that are driven by automated software and are truly decentralized do not raise fundamental concerns of securities regulation, namely that intermediaries trusted by investors may be foolish, careless, or compromised; investors using permissionless smart contracts for peer-to-peer transactions do not fundamentally require an exemption. TSV is merely one model of on-chain securities trading, and the committee is open to other models, as on-chain trading models that can comply with existing Securities Exchange Act requirements may not require an exemption at all.

Robinhood Crypto Vice President Johann Kerbrat posted on the X platform, stating that the SEC's innovation exemption is a signal that tokenization is ready to enter the United States. This is an important step taken by the agency, which will allow the onshore development of the liquidity tokenized securities market.Johann Kerbrat mentioned that wise regulation will accelerate innovation and looks forward to the content that will be built next.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) stated that tokenization is expected to reduce costs in market infrastructure aspects such as issuance, trading, transfer, settlement, and ownership records, while enhancing transparency and liquidity. The SEC approved a temporary, conditional "Innovation Exemption," allowing tokenized NMS stocks to be traded in a limited manner on certain on-chain venues—tokenized securities trading venues (TSVs).It is reported that TSVs meeting the exemption conditions can conduct approved trading through automated market makers and liquidity pools, but must meet requirements for public disclosure, trading transparency, circuit breaker coordination, record keeping, and technical safeguards, while also being subject to limits on the number of stock codes and trading volume.The SEC indicated that this move aims to observe the operation of on-chain trading venues and market participants, providing data for the formulation of long-term regulatory rules in the future.

According to The Block, the UK Treasury has submitted amendments to cryptocurrency regulations, including exemptions for certain stablecoin transactions, custody arrangements, and technical services related to DeFi protocols, which require parliamentary approval.Katie Harries, Coinbase's Head of European Policy, welcomed these changes but noted that regulated exchanges still face barriers in seeking access to DeFi.

According to the Financial Times, the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is working with the Treasury and the Bank of England to establish a dedicated regulatory framework for tokenized gold or more broadly tokenized commodities, and is assessing exemptions for certain tokenized gold products or market infrastructure from the scope of Collective Investment Schemes (CIS) and Alternative Investment Funds (AIF) regulations. Specific plans have not yet been determined.

According to Crypto Briefing, the Bank of Italy has warned cryptocurrency service providers that every cryptocurrency transfer, regardless of the transaction amount, must undergo sanctions screening, and no minimum transaction threshold may be set to evade automatic screening. This requirement stems from guidelines applicable in Italy from December 30, 2025, issued by the European Banking Authority, and is not a new sanction obligation.The Bank of Italy specifically pointed out that certain instant payment exemptions for payment service providers do not apply to cryptocurrency transfers. Cryptocurrency companies need to review their screening systems, update their sanctions lists, and alert procedures to ensure coverage of all applicable transactions. The MiCA authorization does not replace these independent obligations under the EU restrictive measures rules. This move will increase compliance costs for Italian cryptocurrency companies, requiring more complex systems to handle transaction alerts and potential sanctions matches.

The Rollup founder Andy posted that market rumors suggest the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is preparing to launch the largest tokenization innovation exemption policy to date, which may allow tokenized securities to be traded solely through registered transfer agents, without the need for broker-dealer licenses, and without adhering to traditional trading platform or ATS-related rules. It is also reported that this could cover U.S. retail investors and overseas investors.Andy stated that if the above news is true, its potential impact would be significant. Tokenized funds could be issued and traded directly in the form of on-chain tokens, with transfer agents maintaining legal ownership records on-chain, while the underlying assets held by the fund, such as stocks and bonds, could also be further tokenized, thus forming an on-chain trading system of "fund tokens + underlying asset tokens."Andy later mentioned that a large fund has already received the SEC's "green light," but this has not yet been officially confirmed. He speculated that ARK, Fidelity, or BlackRock could be potential participants. If the policy is ultimately implemented, U.S. asset management firms may accelerate the issuance of native equity tokens to compete for around-the-clock liquidity and on-chain distribution channels, rather than waiting for third parties to mirror tokenize traditional securities. He further linked this potential policy change to the recent push by the Trump administration for regulatory openness in the crypto market, as well as the CFTC's efforts to bring perpetual contracts to the U.S. market, believing that the U.S. regulatory environment may be gradually opening the policy floodgates for on-chain finance.

According to Cryptopolitan, the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) won first place in the Saxony-Anhalt elections with a vote share of 43.8%, securing 39 out of 83 seats, while the CDU's vote share significantly dropped to 17.2%. Although this victory does not directly affect federal tax law, it will further strengthen AfD's voice in the discussions on cryptocurrency tax reform in Berlin.AfD has consistently advocated for the retention of the 12-month tax exemption policy for Bitcoin holdings and opposes including private mining and Lightning Network node operations under commercial taxation. In contrast, the German Ministry of Finance plans to abolish this tax exemption period, aiming to increase annual revenue by at least 1 billion euros.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said on Wednesday that the Trump administration is considering a new round of import tariffs on semiconductors, which could further increase taxes on foreign chips to attract more semiconductor manufacturing to the United States.However, these tariffs may be implemented alongside tax relief measures for investments in domestic manufacturing companies, following the approach previously taken by the Trump administration in the pharmaceutical industry.Raimondo stated, "This is the principle that the semiconductor industry should follow: If you produce in the U.S., we will give you tariff relief; if you do not produce in the U.S., you will pay tariffs. This is a very wise approach and it works."Trump had previously imposed a 25% tariff on some advanced semiconductors and ordered additional import tariffs on these chips in January of this year after the U.S. Department of Commerce completed relevant trade investigations. However, the scope of the new round of tariffs may expand from semiconductors themselves to products containing chips, thereby affecting imports of data center servers and consumer electronics.

According to The Block, Securitize President Brett Redfearn stated that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission withdrew the crypto innovation exemption rule last Friday due to concerns about the voting progress of the Clarity Act.Redfearn expects that the rule will be introduced after the Senate votes on September 15, possibly in early October.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) suddenly canceled the meeting originally scheduled for last Friday. The meeting was planned to advance the formulation of cryptocurrency regulatory rules and to announce the repeatedly postponed innovation exemption arrangements, which may be related to the Clarity Act.Earlier last week, the SEC announced it would hold a public meeting where commissioners would discuss the Reg Crypto proposal, which involves how companies can raise funds through tokens and ultimately exit SEC oversight after issuing their own digital assets. The SEC had originally planned to announce at least some of the innovation exemption arrangements, concerning how security token issuers handle the underlying securities. Both of these arrangements did not proceed as scheduled.

The SEC has postponed the "innovation exemption" plan for tokenized securities and canceled the cryptocurrency rules meeting, causing concept stocks such as Bullish, Coinbase, and the UNI token to drop.