The SEC issued an "Innovation Exemption" allowing tokenized stocks to trade onchain, causing cryptocurrencies to surge. This decision follows the failure of the CLARITY Act in the Senate. Bitcoin briefly surpassed $81,000, but assets like Solana, Ether, and NEAR Protocol experienced significant gains. The exemption, designated Release No. 34-106402, creates a category called a Tokenized Securities Venue, exempting them from certain exchange definitions. These venues can list a limited number of symbols and trade a small percentage of daily volume. Crucially, tokenized shares must have the same rights as the underlying stock, including dividends and voting rights. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins stated this is a step towards modernizing capital markets. Analyst Andrew Yang estimated tokenized equity volume on Uniswap at $800 million daily, noting the rights parity condition's impact. The exemption is for five years and applies only to venues using Automated Market Makers (AMMs), not traditional Central Limit Order Books (CLOBs). This focus on AMMs aims to foster innovation in the decentralized finance space. The order also mandates that tokenized equities must have native tokenization characteristics, meaning they represent direct ownership and have comparable rights to the underlying stock. Issuers retain the right to object to tokenization of their equity. This regulatory step is seen as beneficial for companies like Coinbase and potentially Robinhood, though Robinhood's current product may not qualify. Goldman Sachs believes further legislative reform is necessary for broader digital asset adoption.