The SEC press release published 11 June 2026 confirms the agency’s proposal to rescind its tokenized stocks rules, specifically Rule 611 and Rule 610(e) of Regulation NMS, removing what Galaxy Digital head of research Alex Thorn calls ‘one of the biggest structural barriers to tokenized US equities trading in DeFi.’ The same day, US lawmakers introduced a bipartisan bill to stand up a federal crypto crime task force, and Hungary announced it would reverse its restrictive crypto trading framework after EU scrutiny.
What the SEC Tokenized Stocks Rules Rescission Actually Removes
Rule 611, the trade-through prohibition, has been the centrepiece of Regulation NMS since its adoption in 2005. It bars executing a stock order at a worse price than what is available on another exchange. Rule 610(e) prohibits exchanges from displaying a locked or crossed quotation. Both rules are structurally incompatible with on-chain AMM mechanics: as Thorn put it, AMMs ‘would commit trade-throughs constantly and arguably be an illegal trading center’ under the current framework.
The SEC’s proposal would also rescind related defined terms in Rule 600. The agency is expected to replace the rescinded rules with a best-execution framework, which Thorn says could accommodate AMMs. The proposal is open for public comment for 60 days, after which the SEC will review responses and may revise its approach.
One component the rescission does not touch: listed options, which remain governed by the Options Order Protection and Locked/Crossed Market Plan. Morrison Foerster also notes the SEC simultaneously pushed back the compliance deadline for the 2024 Reg NMS amendments on minimum pricing increments and access fee caps by one year, from November 2026 to November 2027.
The historical context is worth the footnote. When Rule 611 was first adopted, then-Commissioner Paul Atkins dissented, arguing it would constrain competition and stifle innovation. Skadden has noted that Atkins, now SEC chair, favoured focusing on improving market access and connectivity instead. Twenty years later, the rule he opposed is on the chopping block under his watch.
Congress Moves on Crypto Crime with H.R.9276
Republican Representative Lance Gooden and Democratic Representative Josh Gottheimer introduced H.R.9276, the Federal Cryptocurrency Theft Task Force bill, in the 119th Congress. The bill would establish a Department of Justice-led body drawing in the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to coordinate across federal, state and local agencies.
According to PYMNTS, the task force would be chaired by the attorney general and required to produce an annual report to Congress covering trends, outcomes and recommended actions. The bill is explicitly scoped to criminal enforcement rather than regulation, framed as protecting innovation while targeting theft and fraud.
The scale of the problem gives the bill context. Americans reported more than $11 billion in crypto-related losses in 2025, according to the FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report. The same report puts total losses from all cyber-enabled crimes at nearly $21 billion, with cryptocurrency and AI-related complaints ranking among the costliest categories.
The bill would also fund blockchain forensics training and technical assistance for state and local law enforcement, where most crypto victims first file reports.
Hungary Reverses Course After EU Probe
Hungary announced it will decriminalise crypto trading, unwinding a 2025 framework that imposed criminal penalties on unapproved crypto-to-fiat and crypto-to-crypto conversions. Government spokesperson Anita Köböl confirmed the reversal at a Thursday press conference, describing the original legislation in blunt terms: ‘This was an unnecessary piece of legislation. It made practical operation impossible and frightened the market participants.’
Köböl said the rules had driven down crypto trading activity and prompted platforms including Revolut to suspend services in Hungary. The restrictions also triggered a European Union probe into whether Hungary’s framework was compatible with bloc-level rules. ‘The criminal consequences also negatively impacted several hundred thousand people,’ she added.
The reversal brings Hungary back into alignment with the EU’s broader digital asset framework and removes a live compliance risk that had been hanging over platforms operating across the bloc.
For the tokenized equities thesis, the 60-day comment window on the SEC’s Reg NMS rescission is the next hard catalyst. If the best-execution replacement framework takes the shape Thorn is projecting, on-chain order books start looking materially less legally exposed.
