Tokenized Stock Trading Gains Momentum; SEC Advances Plan

The U.S. SEC is developing a plan to allow stocks to trade on‑chain as tokenized securities, with Nasdaq filing rule changes and a public-comment period underway and several crypto platforms signaling interest. Robinhood, Kraken and other platforms have begun offering tokenized U.S. stocks overseas, popularizing tokens tied to firms such as SpaceX and OpenAI and helping drive Robinhood's rally. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev warned tokenization is 'like a freight train,' predicting major markets will have frameworks within five years and full adoption could take a decade or more. Proponents and some regulators, including Paul Atkins and Commissioner Hester Peirce, say tokenization could broaden retail access, cut costs and enable 24/7 trading, with analysts projecting large potential market upside. But Wall Street firms and clearinghouses — notably Citadel Securities — and industry groups like the World Federation of Exchanges warn tokenization could disrupt market structure, enable regulatory arbitrage and create investor-protection gaps, and critics are concerned exemptive relief could erode existing safeguards. Global signs of momentum — including moves in other jurisdictions (e.g., Thailand expanding crypto ETF criteria) and interest from major asset managers — coexist with unresolved questions about timing, scope and safeguards.