US House holds hearing to promote securities tokenization, SEC plans to launch innovation exemption plan

On March 26, the U.S. House Financial Services Committee held a hearing on securities tokenization on Wednesday. Republican Congressman Andy Barr said that securities tokenization is "undoubtedly coming" and regulatory modernization is imperative. The SEC has previously approved DTCC to tokenize highly liquid assets on designated blockchains, and recently approved Nasdaq to support tokenized stock trading. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said he would seek opinions on the innovation exemption plan to establish a regulatory sandbox for assets on the chain. Some Democratic lawmakers have expressed concern about the exemption plan and believe that it may create a two-tiered market.