Perpetuals.com, a Nasdaq-listed financial technology company, plans to let people trade tokenized US stocks, meaning blockchain-based tokens that represent ordinary shares. It is not live yet.
In a release on 14 October 2026, Perpetuals.com said it “today announced plans to offer tokenized U.S. equities on its platform, utilizing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) new five-year Innovation Exemption framework for onchain trading of National Market System stocks”. It has published a notice that it intends to rely on the exemption, which covers what the SEC calls Tokenized Securities Venues.
The Innovation Exemption, introduced in September, lets certain marketplaces trade US stocks on public blockchains without registering as traditional exchanges. CoinDesk reported that tokens must carry the same shareholder rights as ordinary shares, and companies get 30 days to object to their shares being traded on such a venue.
When trading could start
Perpetuals.com has not set a launch date. A company spokesperson told CoinDesk that trading could begin in mid-November at the earliest, after the required 30-day period following the notice. That depends on finishing market-data and compliance arrangements and security reviews of the smart contracts (the code that runs the trades), the spokesperson said.
How it would work
According to CoinDesk, which saw the public notice, the US venue would be run by Kephas Corporation, a Delaware-based subsidiary. Trading would use permissioned automated market maker (AMM) pools, where trades happen against pools of tokens managed by code rather than through a traditional order book. The pools would run initially on Kronos X Public, an Ethereum-compatible blockchain developed by the company.
CoinDesk reported that each pool would pair a tokenized stock with a digital dollar, initially expected to be a form of the USDC stablecoin.
CoinDesk said this makes Perpetuals.com the second company to pursue a marketplace under the exemption, after OKXICE, a joint venture between crypto exchange OKX and New York Stock Exchange owner Intercontinental Exchange, which filed its plans last week.
The company
“The Perpetuals team has long been trailblazers in tokenization, and this expansion into the U.S. allows us to further utilize our platform and deep expertise,” said chief executive Patrick Gruhn.
CoinDesk reported that Gruhn led FTX Europe before the FTX group collapsed in November 2022, and that his team helped build early stock tokens sold by Binance and FTX in 2021. According to CoinDesk, Perpetuals.com reported $65.2 million in total assets at the end of April and a $17.6 million net loss for its fiscal year.
What this means
- A second applicant. More firms are lining up to trade tokenized US stocks under the new SEC exemption.
- Not live yet. Trading could start mid-November at the earliest, and depends on preparations being finished.
- New plumbing. Trading via AMM pools against a stablecoin is very different from a traditional exchange.
Sources
- Perpetuals.com, “Perpetuals Moves to Offer Tokenized U.S. Stocks Under SEC Innovation Exemption”, ACCESS Newswire, 14 October 2026. https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/blockchain-and-cryptocurrency/perpetuals-moves-to-offer-tokenized-u.s.-stocks-under-sec-innovation-1236711
- CoinDesk (Krisztian Sandor), “Former FTX Europe chief targets U.S. tokenized stock trading with new SEC exemption”, 14 October 2026. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/10/14/former-ftx-europe-chief-targets-u-s-stock-tokenization-with-new-sec-exemption
