The US Chamber of Commerce is highlighting an important development affecting publicly traded companies and the trading of their shares. The SEC recently issued an Innovation Exemption that permits certain trading platforms to facilitate transactions of tokenized versions of publicly traded U.S. stocks. Public companies must prepare for a critical and time-sensitive 30-day notice-and-objection process.
Under the September 17, 2026 order (which is already in effect), an unaffiliated third party may tokenize a public company’s shares and make them available for trading on a qualifying Tokenized Securities Venue (TSV), subject to specified conditions.
Before trading begins, the TSV must provide written notice to the issuer. The company has a strict window of 30 calendar days from receipt of the notice to object. If the issuer submits a timely written objection, the TSV cannot make those tokenized shares available for trading under the Innovation Exemption. Critically, if no objection is made, a TSV is able to issue a tokenized version of that company's shares and there is currently no process for removing the tokenized shares from the TSV after the deadline has passed, making a failure to respond effectively irreversible.
Publicly traded companies may wish to consider taking take the following steps:
Ensure that notices delivered to the physical address listed for the company’s principal executive offices are routed to the legal or corporate secretary’s office. Any delay in internal mail routing could cost a company their objection window.
Establish an internal process for evaluating any proposed third-party tokenization of company shares before a notice arrives, recognizing that multiple TSVs may independently send notices, each triggering a separate 30-day deadline.
Consider relevant shareholder-rights, investor-relations, operational, and market-structure implications.
- Track each 30-day deadline and consult appropriate counsel without delay regarding whether to object.
Because the SEC’s exemption is already effective, it is possible that the clock is ticking for publicly traded companies. It is scheduled to remain in effect through September 17, 2031, unless modified.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is reviewing the implications for public companies and the broader capital markets and and will continue to engage on this issue.
SEC materials: https://www.sec.gov/rules-regulations/2026/09/4-927
This communication is for informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice.
