ONDO surges on SEC Innovation Exemption News

What the SEC's Innovation Exemption Does

@OndoFinance's native $ONDO token surged more than 6% on September 17 after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission formally issued its "Innovation Exemption," a regulatory order that directly benefits platforms like Ondo's Oasis Pro.

The SEC granted temporary, conditional exemptive relief to Tokenized Securities Venues (TSVs), allowing them to trade tokenized National Market System (NMS) stocks using permissioned automated market makers and liquidity pools. The exemption is valid for five years and includes limits on the number of trading symbols and trading volume.

The exemption gives tokenized securities venues a five-year permit to operate without registering as a traditional exchange. It had been in the works for more than a year, but was released just days after a crypto market structure legislative effort failed in the U.S. Senate.

Under the framework, the SEC requires tokens to represent real ownership of the underlying stock, with holders receiving the same rights and privileges as traditional shareholders, including dividends and voting rights. The regulator explicitly excluded synthetic security tokens that are derivatives and do not provide ownership of the underlying shares.

Why Ondo Finance Is Well Positioned

The exemption is particularly significant for @OndoFinance, which has spent the past year building the regulated infrastructure needed to operate exactly this type of venue in the U.S.

Ondo Finance completed its acquisition of Oasis Pro, enabling it to develop and provide tokenized securities markets in the United States. The acquisition gave Ondo Finance the most comprehensive set of SEC registrations to provide digital asset services in the country, including an SEC-registered broker-dealer, alternative trading system, and transfer agent.

Ondo Finance's Oasis Pro Markets also holds FINRA authorization to offer tokenized equities and funds to U.S. retail and institutional investors. Most recently, Oasis Pro Markets became the first tokenization firm to join DTCC's Fund/SERV network, plugging tokenized funds directly into the infrastructure connecting America's fund companies and wealth platforms.

Ondo Finance has already rolled out its first implementation of the SEC's third-party custodial tokenization model, with BlackRock's IVV ETF and Micron shares among the first securities tokenized under a U.S. framework rather than an offshore structure.

The SEC's move signals a continued push by the current administration to bring traditional equity markets onchain. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins described the exemption as "a significant step forward, within its statutory authority, to bring America's capital markets into the digital age."

Sources:
SEC.gov: SEC Issues Innovation Exemption to Facilitate the Trading of Tokenized NMS Stock
CoinDesk: SEC Rolls Out Innovation Exemption for Tokenized Securities Trading Venues
TheStreet: Ondo Finance Acquires Oasis Pro to Expand Tokenized Securities Platform in U.S.