The SEC’s new Innovation Exemption marks an important step in the evolution of tokenized securities.
On September 17th, the SEC granted temporary, conditional relief allowing qualifying Tokenized Securities Venues (TSVs) to pilot trading of tokenized NMS stocks through permissioned automated market makers (AMMs) and liquidity pools.
The framework is limited: participation must be permissioned, trading is subject to symbol and volume limits, and tokenized stocks must provide holders with the same rights and privileges as their traditional counterparts. The exemption is set to expire after five years, giving the SEC time to observe how these markets develop and inform future rulemaking.
But the significance of the move goes beyond tokenization itself.
The RWA Story Is Moving to the Market Layer
For years, much of the RWA conversation has focused on putting traditional assets onchain. The harder question is what happens after that.
A tokenized asset needs more than a blockchain representation. It needs markets where it can be traded, liquidity providers that can support those markets, settlement infrastructure, and accessible channels through which users can enter and exit the ecosystem.
The SEC’s latest action addresses an important part of this equation: onchain secondary-market liquidity.
By creating a framework for permissioned AMMs and liquidity pools to facilitate trading of tokenized stocks, the SEC is allowing market participants to experiment with a different structure for securities trading while maintaining requirements around investor protections, transparency, and market oversight.
This is an important shift in the conversation. The question is becoming less about whether an asset can be tokenized, and more about how a tokenized asset can actually function as part of a market.
Liquidity Alone Does Not Make a Market
It is tempting to look at AMMs and liquidity pools and conclude that tokenized stocks are simply gaining better liquidity.
Liquidity is one layer of a much larger system. For tokenized RWAs to develop into functioning markets, several pieces need to work together: Tokenization → Access → Trading → Liquidity → Settlement
The SEC’s framework primarily speaks to the middle of this stack, particularly trading and liquidity.
But there is another side to the equation that is just as important: access.
Even if tokenized assets can trade efficiently onchain, the ecosystem still needs ways for users coming from the traditional financial system to enter it.
From Fiat to RWAs: Building the Access Layer
This is where fiat-to-RWA infrastructure becomes increasingly relevant.
The growth of tokenized assets does not necessarily mean that users will suddenly abandon familiar financial rails. Broader adoption can instead depend on making onchain assets accessible through the payment methods and currencies users already use.
Alchemy Pay is building in this direction with its fiat-to-RWA investment platform, which provides direct fiat access to tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs. Integrated with Backed’s xStocks from launch, the platform supports more than 60 tokenized equities, including names such as Apple, Tesla, Circle, Coinbase, and SPY.
The access layer is designed to be global rather than crypto-native only. Users in 170+ countries can purchase tokenized assets using Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay, Google Pay, SEPA, and more than 50 local payment methods, including mobile wallets and bank transfers. With fractional access starting from $1, the model also lowers the practical entry barrier to tokenized assets.
Behind the access experience is another important part of the market structure: liquidity and pricing. Alchemy Pay’s infrastructure aggregates real-time pricing data from institutional-grade sources and works with execution and liquidity partners including Kraken and Backed, supporting 24/5 access to the platform.
Together, these pieces illustrate why fiat access is becoming part of the broader RWA infrastructure stack. Tokenization creates the digital representation; liquidity enables markets; and fiat connectivity creates a familiar entry point between traditional money and onchain assets.
Building the Rails Around Tokenization
The development of tokenized securities is a story about rebuilding parts of financial market infrastructure around programmable, interoperable assets.
The SEC’s Innovation Exemption addresses one piece of that evolution by opening a controlled path for tokenized NMS stocks to interact with onchain liquidity infrastructure. Other parts of the ecosystem are developing around custody, settlement, compliance, payments, and fiat access.
These layers will ultimately need to connect.
For Alchemy Pay, that creates a natural role within the emerging RWA stack: connecting fiat access with tokenized assets as onchain markets continue to develop.
The next phase of tokenization may therefore be less about putting more assets onchain, and more about making those assets accessible, tradable, and connected to the financial system around them.
About Alchemy Pay
Founded in 2017, Alchemy Pay is a payment gateway that seamlessly connects crypto with traditional fiat currencies for businesses, developers, and end users. With its offerings including On & Off-Ramp, Web3 Digital Bank, NFT Checkout and its newly launched RWA platform, Alchemy Pay supports fiat payments in 173 countries.
The Ramp is a one-stop solution to buy and sell crypto and fiat, easily integrated by platforms and dApps according to requirements. The RWA platform allows global users to invest in tokenized real-world assets using local fiat currencies, lowering entry barriers and democratizing access to traditional financial instruments. Our Web3 Digital Bank supports Web3 enterprises by providing multi-fiat accounts and instant fiat-crypto conversion capabilities. Additionally, the NFT Checkout enables direct purchases of NFTs using fiat payment methods. ACH is the Alchemy Pay network token on the Ethereum blockchain.
