The SEC Regulation NMS rescission proposal, published Thursday, would eliminate the two rules that have most directly blocked tokenized equities from plugging into DeFi trading infrastructure. The same day, US lawmakers introduced a bill creating a dedicated crypto-crime task force, and Hungary announced it would reverse criminal penalties on crypto trading.
SEC Regulation NMS Rescission and the AMM Problem
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposal targets Rule 611 of Regulation NMS, the trade-through prohibition that bars executing a stock order at a price worse than the best available on any other exchange, and Rule 610(e), which restricts locked and crossed quotations. Related definitions in Rule 600 would also be rescinded.
For tokenized equity protocols, those two rules have been a hard blocker. Automated market makers price assets algorithmically from liquidity pool ratios, not from a live NBBO feed. Galaxy Digital head of research Alex Thorn put it plainly: AMMs ‘would commit trade-throughs constantly and arguably be an illegal trading center’ under the current framework.
Thorn called the proposal ‘one of the biggest unlocks yet for tokenized stocks’ and described the existing rules as ‘one of the biggest structural barriers to tokenized US equities trading in DeFi.’ He expects the SEC to replace the rescinded rules with a best-execution framework, which could accommodate AMM-style venues.
The SEC framed the rescission as an effort to ‘simplify market structure and reduce costs for market participants while allowing competition, innovation, and other market forces to shape the continuing evolution of our equity markets.’ The proposal is open for public comment for 60 days, after which the agency may revise its position before any final rule.
The implications run beyond tokenized equities. Removing the trade-through rule effectively decouples on-chain equity venues from the national market system’s best-price obligation, which is a prerequisite for any DeFi-native settlement layer handling US stocks to operate without immediate regulatory exposure.
A DoJ-Led Task Force and $11 Billion in Losses
Republican Representative Lance Gooden and Democrat Josh Gottheimer introduced legislation to establish the Federal Cryptocurrency Theft Task Force, according to CoinDesk. The body would be led by the US attorney general and include senior representatives from the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Treasury Department.
The mandate covers theft investigations, scam coordination, blockchain forensics, asset tracing, and victim support. The bill also requires an annual report to Congress on trends, outcomes, and recommended actions, per PYMNTS. Its drafters framed the scope narrowly around criminal enforcement, rather than regulatory jurisdiction, to avoid stepping on civil enforcement lanes.
The legislative impetus is hard to argue with. The FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report recorded more than $11 billion in crypto-related losses reported by Americans last year. Total cyber-enabled crime losses across all categories reached nearly $21 billion in the same period, with crypto and AI-related complaints among the most costly.
Whether a task force resolves the jurisdictional fragmentation that has historically slowed crypto-crime prosecutions is a separate question. Federal, state, and local agencies have operated with limited coordination, and the bill’s training and technical-assistance provisions are an acknowledgement of how far behind some state-level investigators remain on blockchain forensics.
Hungary Reverses Its Crypto Crackdown
Hungary’s Tisza government spokesperson Anita Köböl confirmed at a Thursday press conference that the country would unwind a 2025 framework that required approved validation for crypto conversions and attached criminal penalties to violations.
Köböl was direct about the policy failure: ‘This was an unnecessary piece of legislation. It made practical operation impossible and frightened the market participants.’ She added that ‘the criminal consequences also negatively impacted several hundred thousand people.’
The restrictions had already produced concrete damage: Revolut and other digital asset platforms suspended crypto services in Hungary under the regime. The rules also triggered a European Union probe into whether the framework was compatible with bloc-level rules, a pressure point Köböl acknowledged.
The reversal is a clean case of regulatory overreach unwinding under commercial and supranational pressure. Hungary’s 2025 framework was uniquely harsh by EU standards, and the EU compatibility question gave officials a face-saving rationale for the pivot.
The SEC’s comment window closes in 60 days. If the final rule retains the Reg NMS rescission, on-chain equity trading venues will have cleared their single largest legal obstacle. Watch whether any tokenized-stock protocol announces a DeFi integration before the comment period ends.
