SEC Launches Pilot Program for On-Chain Stock Trading Sandbox

September 18, according to CoinDesk, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has recently proposed a five-year regulatory sandbox plan, allowing compliant platforms to trade real U.S. stocks on public blockchains via smart contracts and liquidity pools without registering as national exchanges. Trading is subject to strict restrictions. The cap for single-platform tokens of highly liquid stocks is 75, with an average daily trading volume limit of 0.25%; the second tier relaxes this to 250 tokens and 2.5%.

SEC Director Jamie Selway noted the aim is to test through small steps. Tokens must fully retain the original stock's dividends, voting rights, and circuit-breaker synchronization mechanisms, with leveraged borrowing explicitly prohibited. If tokenization is initiated by a third party, listed companies enjoy a 30-day notice period and veto power. Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo views it as a controlled innovation testing ground. Framework details are still being refined.

[TechFlow]