SEC approves Nasdaq Tokenized Trading Pilot
In crypto today, the SEC approved the Nasdaq tokenization pilot, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins offered more clarity on why NFTs generally fall outside securities rules, and Ethereum cut bridging times by 98% with new regulations.
SEC approves Nasdaq tokenized trading pilot
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday approved Nasdaq's pilot proposal to support the trading of large volumes of stocks and other securities.
Under the pilot, tokenized shares will trade on the same order book, at the same price, under the same symbol and serial number, and carry the same rights as their traditional counterparts.
Only “eligible participants” can participate in the pilot, and shares are limited to securities traded in the Russell 1000 index, which tracks the 1,000 largest publicly traded companies by market capitalization, and exchange-traded funds track the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 indexes.
The approval comes after Nasdaq announced earlier this month that it was partnering with crypto exchange Kraken to allow its customers to migrate from infrastructure to versions that can use blockchains and allow public companies to create and issue their own tokenized shares.
SEC Chairman Explains Why NFTs Fall Outside Securities Rules
After the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) outlined four broad categories of digital assets that fall outside the securities rules, Chairman Paul Atkins further clarified why non-fungible tokens (NFTs) generally do not meet that definition.
In an interview with CNBC on Wednesday, Atkins reiterated that the agency's latest regulatory release identified four types of digital assets that are not typically considered securities: digital products, digital instruments, digital collectibles such as NFTs and stablecoins.
During the interview, host Andrew Ross Sorkin pressed Atkins on the digital sets, suggesting that they could easily mimic security based on their structure.
“Well, that's true of anything,” Atkins replied, emphasizing that the SEC's analysis still depends on the facts and circumstances of each asset, especially when it involves an investment contract based on long-term legal precedent.
Ethereum plans to cut bridge times by 98% to 13 seconds with new rules
Ethereum's customer groups are testing an opt-in fast verification method that will reduce the time it takes for some Layer-2 networks and exchanges to identify mainnet deposits to around 13 seconds.
The proposed Fast Confirmation Rule (FCR) will “reduce the deposit or exchange time from Ethereum L1 to L2s to about 13 seconds, a reduction of 80-98% for most L2s and exchanges,” Ethereum researcher Julian Ma wrote on X.
Most users today rely on canonical bridges, where transfers typically wait for multiple confirmations or completion, a process that can take around 13 minutes. However, many exchanges and L2s do not wait for the deadline, instead relying on “k-deep” authentication rules, which do not provide any formal guarantee. With k-deep authentication, a transaction is considered complete only after k blocks (a number determined by k).
Developers say the rule can be implemented without a hard fork, although client and API integration work is still ongoing. Client groups are already working on implementation, and once deployed, nodes can begin using the protocol without network-wide coordination. Exchanges, L2s and infrastructure providers are expected to integrate it with minor changes.
