Last week, NYSE Texas, Inc. filed a notice of proposed rule changes with the SEC that would enable the trading of securities on the NYSE Texas exchange in tokenized form during the pendency of the pilot program to be operated by the DTC under the terms of the Staff’s December 11, 2025 no-action letter. The notice states:

The Exchange’s rules do not currently permit the trading of tokenized securities on the Exchange and, unless the Exchange adopts the proposed rules, the Exchange would lack a clear framework for DTC Eligible Participants to designate, at order entry, that a DTC Eligible Security be cleared and settled in tokenized form pursuant to the DTC Pilot Program.

The Exchange accordingly proposes to amend its rules to enable the trading of DTC Eligible Securities in tokenized form on the Exchange during the pendency of the DTC Pilot Program, subject to the same conditions and restrictions as the Nasdaq rule change approved by the Commission. The Exchange believes that the existing regulatory structure mandated by Congress applies to tokenized securities, regardless of whether such securities have certain unique properties like the ability to be settled on a blockchain, much like it did when the Commission allowed securities to be decimalized and electronified and when exchange traded funds and other novel securities were initially approved. The Exchange believes that no significant exemptions or parallel market structure constructs are needed for tokenized securities to trade alongside other securities, and that the markets can accommodate tokenization while continuing to provide the benefits and protections of the national market system.

To tackle the challenge of trading tokenized equities, the Exchange offers a simple proposal that accommodates an approach to tokenization that DTC is pursuing in the DTC Pilot Program. The Exchange believes that this approach will leverage existing structures, players, and rules in a way that is beneficial to investors and in the markets’ best interests.

NYSE Texas notes that this proposal will become effective when “the requisite infrastructure and post-trade settlement services” have been established by DTC. As usual, the Commission is soliciting comment on the proposal during a short 21-day comment period.

– Dave Lynn