SIFMA today issued the following statement from president and CEO Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr. on the innovation exemption issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC):
“SIFMA strongly supports innovation in the securities markets and appreciates the SEC’s efforts to provide regulatory clarity for tokenized securities. While we are still reviewing the ‘innovation exemption’ that was released today, we are concerned about its impact on investor protection and market integrity and would emphasize the need to avoid unnecessary and potentially costly fragmentation in the listed securities market. The exemption could allow multiple tokenized versions of U.S.-listed securities to trade in parallel, lightly regulated markets, in ways that could lead to investor confusion and harm, as well as price and liquidity fragmentation. SIFMA has been clear that any innovation exemption should be narrowly drawn, open to all market participants, technology neutral, and subject to appropriate guardrails, including duration, customer, and transaction limits. While today’s order includes some of these guardrails, it is unclear if they are sufficiently robust to protect investors and market quality.
“We appreciate that the SEC is soliciting public comment and note the Chairman’s statement that this interim measure must be followed by durable rulemaking. We urge the Commission to commence that formal notice and comment process as soon as possible so that this framework can benefit from broad public input and rigorous economic analysis, and so that tokenized securities markets have the certainty they need to develop in a responsible manner.
“We look forward to working with the SEC as this framework develops, so that it promotes innovation while protecting investors and market integrity, thereby ensuring that the U.S. capital markets remain the greatest in the world.”
