Does it matter if the stock you buy comes in the form of a token on a blockchain? We could soon find out as the Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly moving forward on a plan to let companies offer stock trading “on chain.” The plan would be a boon to firms like Coinbase and Robinhood, which are raring to expand their crypto offerings, but could also pose a risk to investors, according to major financial companies like Citadel Securities, which are demanding the agency slow-roll the plan.
According to The Information, citing unnamed sources, the SEC is moving quickly to implement the stocks-on-the-blockchain plan as part of the Trump administration’s broader pro-crypto agenda: “The SEC’s effort would provide exemptive relief for blockchain-based trading of stocks, which means some rules governing stock trading wouldn’t apply, the people said. The scope or time limit of the exemption is unclear. The effort would allow trading to begin quickly.”
In practice, this would mean an investor soon could use their Coinbase wallet or Robinhood’s crypto platform to buy tokens of popular stocks like Apple or Netflix, storing them alongside traditional crypto assets like Bitcoin or Ethereum.
