SEC Eyes NMS Rollback in Tokenized Stock Unlock

a16z Leads $355M Raise for Digital Asset | Yuval Rooz of Digital Asset

Marco Manoppo & Karon Pangestu
June 12, 2026

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The SEC's move to rescind Rules 611 and 610(e) is less a crypto-specific concession and more a foundational market structure reform, but the downstream effect is the same: AMM-based trading of tokenized US equities goes from structurally illegal to legally viable for the first time.

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In Today's Email:

What Matters: SEC Eyes NMS Rollback in Tokenized Stock Unlock 👀
Founders Highlight: Yuval Rooz of Digital Asset 👨
Deal Flows: a16z Leads $355M Raise for Digital Asset 💰️

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Narratives: Tokenized Equities

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WHAT MATTERS

SEC Eyes NMS Rollback in Tokenized Stock Unlock

State of play: The SEC's proposal to rescind Rules 611 and 610(e) of Regulation NMS could remove the biggest structural barrier preventing DeFi AMMs from legally trading tokenized US equities.

Rule 611's trade-through prohibition made AMM-based tokenized stock trading structurally illegal, as AMMs execute against bonding curves and cannot comply with intermarket routing requirements.
Rule 610(e) similarly blocked AMMs, whose continuous price discovery routinely crosses the National Best Bid and Offer.
Galaxy Digital's Alex Thorn framed the move as the SEC executing its "Project Crypto playbook," clearing the hardest market structure obstacle before addressing venue registration via an innovation exemption.
TD Cowen expects finalization in Q1 2027, with exemptive relief for tokenization pilots anticipated before then.
Tokenized US equities still face additional hurdles including ATS registration and clearance rules not designed for decentralized trading.

Why it matters: Rescinding Rule 611 removes the one barrier that made onchain equity trading structurally impossible, not just legally ambiguous, opening AMM-based tokenized stock markets for the first time.

Our take: This is less a crypto concession and more a broad market structure reform that crypto benefits from most. Watch the innovation exemption, not the finalization timeline.

For builders and investors: AMM pools for tokenized US equities become legally viable, but ATS registration and settlement infrastructure remain unsolved.

BUILDER-INVESTOR HIGHLIGHT

Yuval Rooz of Digital Asset

Intro: Yuval Rooz is the Co-Founder and CEO of Digital Asset, the creator of the Canton Network.

Previous background: Yuval is a quant trading veteran turned venture investor, with a career spanning high-frequency market making, algorithmic equity trading, and early-stage company building across fintech and deep tech.

Nearly 6 years at DRW as ETF market maker, Senior Algorithmic Trader (equity desk lead), and venture investor
~1 year at Citadel researching risk models for long-short equity portfolios
Founded and exited Hesta Home, a Chicago-based startup (2014-2017)

The big idea: Yuval’s and Canton’s goal is to to accelerate the delivery of institutional-grade tokenization solutions.

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INSIGHTS

Citigroup to Offer Tokenized Private Company Shares

Citigroup is launching a blockchain platform for trading tokenized shares of private companies, initially for foreign investors only, as Wall Street races to meet institutional demand for pre-IPO exposure to names like SpaceX and Anthropic.

The platform builds on Citi's multi-year tokenization push, including its 2023 Token Services pilot and recent entry into JPMorgan's tokenized deposit network.
Delayed IPOs have created demand for private equity access that traditional markets can't easily serve, providing the commercial rationale.
Republic and Robinhood have made similar moves, though OpenAI publicly pushed back on Robinhood's tokenization, flagging the legal complexity still surrounding private equity tokens.

DEAL FLOWS

a16z Leads $355M Raise for Digital Asset

Deal flows soared this week - we saw $400M+ in deals 💼

Digital Asset closed a $355M round led by a16z crypto, with TradFi and DeFi institutions taking equity stakes as Canton solidifies its position as the go-to institutional blockchain infrastructure.

Backers include Apollo, BNP Paribas, Citadel Securities, CME Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, HSBC, S&P Global, and Tradeweb, many of whom are also prospective Canton users.
Canton claims $6T in tokenized assets issued, with JPMorgan, DTCC, and Visa already on the network.
CEO Yuval Rooz said the firm is already profitable, with the raise earmarked for M&A and accelerating partner onchain deployments.

Deal flows in the past week:

OneDosh, $4M Pre-Seed Round
MNX, $6.4M Pre-Seed Round
TVL Capital, $5M Seed Round
EDGE Markets, $29.2M Series A Round
NEURA Robotics, $1.4B Series C Round
Ai Pay With Crypto, $10M Strategic Round
Morpho, $175M Strategic Round
Ethena, Undisclosed $ Strategic Round
Canton Network, $355M Unknown Round
TSFC, Undisclosed $ Unknown Round

QUICK BITES

Citigroup to offer tokenized shares of private companies.
South Korean police book Bithumb CEO as bribery suspect.
a16z crypto leads $355M raise for Canton developer Digital Asset.
Japan's parliament advances bill to classify crypto as financial instruments.
Community bank group launches new ad targeting stablecoin reward language.

NOTEWORTHY READS & MEME

Jason Rosenthall’s read on The Money Flow Is the Moat.
Eli’s read on The Revival of Proof-of-Useful Work (PoUW).
Diego’s read on Tokenization: The Next Financial Revolution.

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Disclaimer: All the information presented in this publication and its affiliates is strictly for educational purposes only. It should not be construed or taken as financial, legal, investment, or any other form of advice.