SEC's five-year exemption, Saylor cheers, Pontes opens — Mon 21 Sep

Good morning. Congress left crypto market rules unwritten last week, and the regulators are now writing them one exemption at a time. Tokenised US stocks get a legal route first, and analysts are already naming who gains.

💎 SEC gives tokenised stocks five years to trade onchain
💎 CFTC sends its own crypto rules to the White House
💎 Saylor says the industry is better off without Clarity
💎 NYSE has spent a year testing Avalanche
💎 Grayscale splits its Zcash ETF after $233 million in a month

🎧 Pontes opens today, and it is where the new Kaupr Weekly episode begins.

— Morten

The SEC has exempted tokenised securities venues from exchange registration for five years. They can trade tokenised US stocks through permissioned automated market makers on public blockchains. Tokens must carry the same rights as the underlying shares. Volume and the number of stocks are capped, and issuers can object to third-party tokens. (Source: press release)

Why it matters: Onchain trading of US equities now has a legal route without Congress. The exemption is temporary, and the SEC is asking for comment on what should follow.

Source: SEC Issues "Innovation Exemption" to Facilitate the Trading of Tokenized NMS Stock and Request for Comment — SEC

The CFTC submitted a crypto market proposal to the White House budget office on Thursday. Details, including which assets are covered, have not been disclosed. After review, the draft returns for a vote and public comment. Separately, passive software, including some wallets, can now connect users to regulated derivatives markets without broker registration.

Why it matters: US market structure is now being written agency by agency, and the CFTC's part is still unpublished.

Source: CFTC sends crypto rules to White House to review as Congress stalls on Clarity Act — CoinDesk

Strategy's executive chairman called the bill's rejection a positive inflection point. A law can make a restriction as durable as a right, he wrote. He pointed to limits in the compromise, such as a ban on paying customers for holding stablecoins. His defence against a hostile future administration is adoption at scale.

Why it matters: Most of the industry treated the vote as a setback. Saylor makes the opposite case, and names the SEC, CFTC and Treasury as the reason.

Source: Michael Saylor Calls CLARITY Act Rejection A 'Positive Inflection Point' For Crypto Industry — Stocktwits

Goldman says Coinbase's tokenised equities already meet many of the SEC's conditions, and its custody and tokenisation units add to that. It would still need AMM-based infrastructure to run a venue itself. Robinhood's offshore stock tokens do not qualify yet. Circle could gain from USDC used for settlement and collateral.

Why it matters: Goldman expects little volume to leave Nasdaq and ICE, given trading caps, issuer opt-outs and the limits of AMMs. The first gains, on this reading, go to crypto-native firms.

Source: Coinbase, Robinhood, Circle could be early winners of SEC's tokenized-stock push, analysts say — CoinDesk

Ava Labs president Charley Cooper told The Block the exchange has tested Avalanche technology and how it fits NYSE's systems. He did not say NYSE had chosen it. ICE's Michael Blaugrund said onstage that Avalanche "checks a lot of those boxes". NYSE announced its tokenised securities platform in January, without naming a blockchain.

Why it matters: NYSE's choice of settlement chain is still open, and ICE says Avalanche is among those it is evaluating.

Source: Ava Labs president says NYSE spent a year testing Avalanche technology for tokenization plans — The Block

Crypto-linked shares rallied on Friday as bitcoin climbed back above $80,000. Strategy and Coinbase gained 11 to 13 per cent, Robinhood close to 9. The same stocks fell sharply after the Senate vote on 15 September, when Coinbase and Circle lost about 10 per cent.

Why it matters: The rebound came within three days of the vote, as regulators began acting under their existing powers.

Source: Crypto stocks rebound after CLARITY Act selloff — Cointelegraph

ZCSH has taken in more than $233 million since launching on 25 August, with net assets around $890 million. The split cuts the price per share to a third; holders of record on 28 September get two extra shares. Split-adjusted trading starts 30 September. It is the first spot ETF to hold ZEC directly.

Why it matters: A privacy coin is now available through an ordinary brokerage account, while rival Monero has been dropped by major exchanges.

Source: Grayscale Is Making Its Red-Hot Zcash ETF More Affordable — Decrypt

Solana ETFs took in $60.7 million in the week to 18 September, bringing the streak above $1.4 billion. Bitwise's staking fund BSOL has taken around 80 per cent of the flows. Bitcoin ETFs drew $6.1 million net, on their lowest weekly trading volume since October 2024.

Why it matters: Staking has become the deciding feature in the category, with one fund taking most of the money.

Source: Solana ETFs notch 12 consecutive weeks of inflows as Bitcoin posts its quietest week on record — Crypto Briefing

REX Shares and Tuttle Capital began trading ASSX on Cboe on Friday. It aims for twice Strive's daily share performance and holds no bitcoin itself. Strive holds 25,000 BTC, the fifth-largest corporate treasury. Its shares rose 6.4 per cent on the day. The firms already run 2x funds on Strategy, Circle and others.

Why it matters: The fund adds daily leverage to a bitcoin treasury stock. Over more than one day, returns can drift far from twice Strive's move.

Source: REX launches 2x leveraged ETF tied to Bitcoin treasury firm Strive — Cointelegraph

🎧 Did you catch — Kaupr Weekly Episode 12: Is finance finally going onchain?

The answer starts at the European Central Bank, with Pontes as a bridge between central bank money and tokenised securities. From there, eleven minutes on DNB, Arc, DTCC, the SEC's five-year exemption, Centiglobe and NBX.

Episode also available on Spotify · Apple Podcasts

Pontes opens today. The service runs from 09:00 to 16:00 on business days, in euro only. The operators Blockstories spoke to expect new bond issuance to come first.

📖 Read the whole Pontes story

ECB links central bank money to tokenised securities — Kaupr

Lithuania's Axiology among four operators in ECB's Pontes — Kaupr

Thank you for reading Kaupr Daily. If you find this briefing useful, please share it with a colleague or friend who should be following Nordic and European digital-finance news more closely.

Kaupr Today has its own home — read, listen, watch and explore at today.kaupr.io.

Wishing you a great Monday — and welcome back tomorrow morning for the next edition of Kaupr Daily.

Best regards Morten Myrstad Founder & Editor