Jesse Pollak Flags SEC Innovation Exemption for Tokenized Stocks

jessepollak on Sept. 17, 2026 drew attention to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission action establishing a temporary, conditional exemption for limited trading of tokenized NMS stocks on certain onchain venues. The SEC's Sept. 17 order, which it calls an "Innovation Exemption," covers Tokenized Securities Venues, or TSVs, and solicits public comment on possible modifications.

"Tokenization is coming to America," the Base lead wrote, linking to documentation of the exemption.

The exemption covers NMS stocks — equities listed on national market system exchanges — in tokenized form, and is structured as conditional and temporary rather than a permanent rule change. According to the SEC's release, the relief expires after five years, limits the number of symbols and the volume traded, and requires trading to stop whenever the underlying stock is halted on its primary exchange.

Pollak is the creator and lead of Base, the Ethereum Layer-2 network incubated by Coinbase, and is an advocate for moving financial activity onchain.

Watch for which venues qualify and for any changes the SEC makes after public comment.