SEC Greenlights Tokenized Stock Trading as Bitcoin Reserve Bill Advances

The US Securities and Exchange Commission approved a temporary innovation exemption on Thursday, permitting limited trading of tokenized National Market System stocks on certain onchain venues. Under the framework outlined by SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda, Tokenized Securities Venues (TSVs) can now offer permissioned trading through automated market makers and liquidity pools, provided they meet strict requirements around transaction transparency, recordkeeping, and technology safeguards. TSVs must also publish detailed US dollar-denominated data, including prices, trade sizes, timestamps, pool addresses, and daily volumes. Symbol and volume limits will apply, with Uyeda describing the framework as a controlled experiment to help the agency evaluate onchain securities trading and shape future regulations.

On Capitol Hill, the House Committee on Financial Services advanced the American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026 (H.R. 8957) in a 28-21 vote, moving toward codifying President Donald Trump's executive order establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. The bill, introduced by US Representative Nicholas Begich on May 21, would create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a separate Digital Asset Stockpile within the Treasury Department for federally held digital assets acquired through criminal or civil forfeiture. Begich argued that the current fragmented custody of government-held Bitcoin poses unacceptable cybersecurity risks and lacks proper accounting, framing the legislation as a necessary step to formalize the federal government's crypto holdings.

In a separate development, the House Ways and Means Committee passed the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act in a bipartisan 38-5 vote, sending a sweeping overhaul of federal crypto tax rules to the full House. The bill aims to provide clarity on digital asset taxation, addressing long-standing ambiguities that have complicated reporting and compliance for crypto investors and businesses. Together, these moves signal accelerating momentum in Washington to integrate digital assets into existing financial and regulatory frameworks, even as the Senate's broader CLARITY Act remains stalled.