Three companies have notified the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of their plans to operate tokenized securities venues following a new rule, according to the top U.S. markets regulator.

Tokenized Stock Venue, Perpetuals.com, and OKX have each submitted plans to operate by allowing trading of tokenized stocks, the SEC said in a Wednesday announcement. Along with the Intercontinental Exchange — the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange — crypto exchange OKX was the first to file with the regulator to debut tokenized securities trading on a new platform, OKXICE.

The filings follow a September announcement in which the SEC said it was offering a five-year exemption to platforms that facilitate the trading of tokenized stocks, giving qualifying venues a multi-year window in which to operate under the new framework. The regulator is pressing ahead with overseeing the crypto space even though lawmakers blocked major digital asset legislation in September.

Tokenized stocks are the latest example of firms looking to harness Bitcoin's underlying technology to upgrade traditional finance. In practice, that means stocks issued and traded as digital tokens on a blockchain, rather than through the set weekday sessions that govern regular trading on conventional exchanges. By putting stocks on the blockchain, traders can operate 24/7, according to proponents.

The SEC cautioned on Wednesday that simply appearing on the list does not necessarily mean the firms meet all of the requirements of the rule. In other words, inclusion on the list is not an approval in itself, and each venue will still need to satisfy the rule's requirements before tokenized stock trading can go live.

Wall Street's top regulator has become markedly pro-crypto under U.S. President Donald Trump. SEC Chair Paul Atkins has said the agency wants to “update” how it watchdogs securities and “modernize them in the age of blockchain and crypto assets.” Atkins has also said the regulator wants the U.S. to be on track to become the “crypto capital of the world.”

That marks a shift from the previous administration of Democrat Joe Biden, when the SEC was hostile toward the crypto industry and hit major companies — including Coinbase and Kraken — with lawsuits. The regulator drew criticism for so-called regulation by enforcement.

Under Trump, that approach has changed: the Republican campaigned on a ticket to help the crypto space and has signed a number of laws and executive orders aimed at supporting the digital asset sector.

The filings also reflect broader momentum in traditional finance. Titans such as BlackRock and Franklin Templeton have for years used blockchain rails to tokenize money market funds. In January, the S&P 500 gave crypto platform Trade[XYZ] the green light to debut a new derivative contract on the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid, giving traders the ability to trade the stock index 24/7.

This article first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.