The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has named three firms planning to operate tokenized securities trading venues under the innovation exemption it introduced in September. TSV LLC, OKXICE and Kephas Corp. have each notified the agency of their intentions to launch blockchain-based stock trading platforms, though none has begun trading under the exemption. The SEC stressed that appearing on its list does not confirm that a firm complies with the exemption's requirements. Each filing describes a different technical approach to bringing equities on-chain.

Three Firms, Three Different Blockchain Venues

TSV LLC, co-owned by Obsidian Systems co-founders Ali Abrar and Ryan Trinkle, plans to operate on the Canton Network. Trinkle also serves on the Canton Foundation board. According to the company, authorized transfer agents will tokenize shares, with trades paired against Circle's USDC and Brale's SBC stablecoins.

OKXICE, a joint venture between crypto exchange OKX and Intercontinental Exchange, plans to build its venue on X Layer, OKX's Ethereum Layer 2 network. Its notice listed 63 stocks, including Nvidia, Tesla and Apple, to trade in Uniswap v4 pools.

Kephas Corp., the U.S. subsidiary of Perpetuals Group, plans to operate on Kronos X Public. The company is led by founder Patrick Gruhn, formerly head of FTX Europe. Its proposed venue would use permissioned trading pools pairing stocks with USDC.

Conditions to Meet Before Trading Begins

The notices identify planned venues rather than markets that are already available to trade. Before any of the three firms can begin operating under the exemption, each must meet the framework's notice, access and listing conditions, while third-party tokenized stocks also face an issuer objection period.

The SEC introduced its five-year innovation exemption on September 17, 2026. Under the framework, firms must publish a detailed notice at least 30 calendar days before operating and notify the agency within one business day.

SEC staff also clarified that venues should publish notices once their operations and access standards are ready for production. For third-party tokenized stocks, venues must wait until the issuer's 30-day objection period ends without an objection before trading can begin. The exemption limits activity in the most liquid stocks to 0.25% of average daily volume per venue and caps listings at 75 symbols. It runs through September 17, 2031.

The SEC emphasized that its staff guidance carries no legal force and does not represent a Commission decision. The agency is accepting public comments under file number 4-927.