Despite the U.S. Senate’s failure to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continues to move forward with proposed rules and releases related to crypto assets.

On September 17, 2026, the SEC issued a temporary, conditional “Innovation Exemption” to facilitate trading in tokenized National Market System (NMS) stock. SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins stated the Commission was “taking a significant step forward, within its statutory authority, to bring America’s capital markets into the digital age by facilitating onchain trading of certain tokenized stocks through the ‘Innovation Exemption.’” Chairman Atkins characterized the measure as provisional, explaining that it…