Galaxy: On-chain secondary trading paths open, SEC issues 5-year innovation exemption for tokenized stocks

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.