SEC Delays Plans for Crypto Stock Exemptions, Bitcoin Price Plunges

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has delayed its plans to provide exemptions for US crypto firms to trade tokenized assets tied to stocks, leading to a sharp drop in the value of Bitcoin.

According to Bloomberg, the SEC staff had prepared a draft framework for an 'innovation exemption' that would have allowed US crypto firms to issue and trade tokens backed by stocks. However, the proposal has been pushed back as the agency weighs input from stock-exchange officials who have held discussions with SEC staff over the previous few days.

The delay is attributed to a key sticking point involving the proposal's openness to trading 'third-party tokens,' which could be issued without the backing or explicit consent of the public companies associated with the underlying shares.