TD Cowen sees little demand for tokenized stocks despite SEC rules

Investment bank TD Cowen expects limited demand for tokenized stocks even after the SEC opened a new regulatory path for trading them outside traditional markets. The agency's five-year Innovation Exemption lets blockchain venues list tokenized securities with full shareholder rights without registering as full exchanges, while keeping synthetic stock tokens outside the framework. Despite that carve-out, TD Cowen cautions that investor appetite for on-chain equities is likely to stay modest, questioning how much real trading the new pathway will attract beyond crypto-native platforms. The view adds a skeptical counterpoint to analysts who have argued the SEC's tokenized-stock push favors exchanges and stablecoin issuers like Coinbase, Robinhood and Circle.