U.S. Regulators Greenlight Tokenized Stock Trading Pilot at Wall Street Exchanges (Nasdaq)
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has approved a rule change allowing certain securities to trade and settle tokenized form on March 19, marking the first major blockchain-based settlement experiment for equities at Wall Street exchanges like Nasdaq under SEC oversight as part of its broader efforts to modernize financial infrastructure while maintaining regulatory compliance through opt-in mechanics that permit eligible participants in Russell 1000 stocks and S&P 500/Nasdaq-100 ETFs trade using tokenized securities within the U.S.
Key Points
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1The U.S. SEC has officially approved a rule change allowing the trading of tokenized equities on NASDAQ.
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2This pilot program permits eligible participants, such as those holding Russell 1000 stocks and S&P/Nasdaq ETFs in specific formats (e.g., R-SPY), to trade these assets using blockchain technology for settlement purposes. The approval covers a Nasdaq rule change filed on March 24.
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3The program is opt-in, meaning only certain participants can utilize this new capability rather than all market actors.
Developments
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has approved Nasdaq's pilot program, which allows select participants in the Russell 1000 index (and major ETFs) trade equities as digital tokens alongside standard shares on a single platform using blockchain infrastructure to improve settlement efficiency while maintaining investor protections through specific safeguards regarding market surveillance and pricing discrepancies.
The SEC approved a rule change allowing eligible investors in the U.S., Russia 100 stocks, and S&P/Nasdaq ETFs settle trades as tokenized securities via an optional pilot program with DTC on March 25. This approval coincided with Federal Reserve interest rates remaining steady at Powell's insistence that inflation progress is required before cuts occur, which caused Bitcoin to drop below $71k despite the crypto market integration milestone for Wall Street