SEC moves to scrap Rule 611, clearing path for tokenized US…

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed rescinding Regulation NMS Rules 611 and 610(e), a move the agency says would reduce costs for market participants and allow competition and innovation to shape the evolution of U.S. equity markets. The proposal, announced June 11, 2026, is being read by crypto-market observers as a significant regulatory unlock for tokenized U.S. equities.

Why it matters

Rule 611 — the so-called "order protection rule" — has long required trading venues to route orders to the market displaying the best quoted price, a mandate that effectively hardwired legacy exchange infrastructure into every equity transaction. Scrapping it removes a structural constraint that has made it difficult for blockchain-based trading venues and tokenized-stock platforms to compete on equal footing with traditional exchanges. For projects building on-chain representations of U.S. equities, the proposal signals that the SEC under its current leadership is willing to let market forces, not prescriptive routing rules, determine which infrastructure wins.

Market impact

The immediate beneficiaries are platforms already offering or developing tokenized U.S. stock products — a category that has attracted significant venture and institutional interest but remained constrained by regulatory ambiguity. If the rescission is finalized, it lowers the compliance barrier for alternative trading systems running on distributed ledgers, potentially accelerating the timeline for mainstream on-chain equity trading. Crypto-native investors should watch for follow-on comment-period activity and any paired guidance on how tokenized securities would be treated under the revised framework.