Formation Securities files SEC notice for Solana tokenized stock venue
In brief
- Formation Securities filed an SEC notice to run a tokenized stock venue on Solana.
- Formation plans to operate under the SEC's Innovation Exemption, issued in September.
- Exodus, Forward Industries and Galaxy Digital shares are expected at launch in 2027.
- Access will be limited to verified investors via Formation and partner distributors.
How the exemption works
The Innovation Exemption is conditional relief the SEC issued in September. It lets eligible tokenized stocks trade through permissioned automated market maker (AMM) pools on qualifying venues.
There's a catch, and it's really the point. Under the exemption, as Decrypt reports it, eligible tokens have to carry the same voting and dividend rights as traditional shares, and each trade settles atomically onchain (which is meant to cut settlement risk). A company's transfer agent still keeps the official shareholder record, while every trade posts to the public ledger in real time.
The pitch is 24/7 markets and near-instant settlement without stripping out the rights investors expect from real stock.
Who's building it
Formation licenses its trading technology from Orca, a Solana-based exchange. Tokenization firms Securitize and Superstate are expected to supply the shares, and Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo noted that each of its tokens is backed by a real share held by its broker-dealer.
“Tokenized stocks will succeed only if public companies see the value in them, and we intend to build this market together with issuers,” said Christopher Montagano, president of Formation Securities
Access will be limited to verified investors. They'll be able to reach the venue through Formation's own platform and through distributors including Alpaca, CoinList's Passage, custodians Anchorage, BitGo and Fireblocks, and wallet providers Solflare and Squads.
The effort builds on Project Open, a proposal that a coalition including Orca, Superstate and the Solana Policy Institute submitted to the SEC in 2025.
Why Solana
Formation said it picked Solana for its speed, low costs and track record with tokenized assets, noting the network hosts more than $5 billion in tokenized real-world assets.
It isn't the only venue in the race. Decrypt reported that the NYSE recently tapped Solana rival Avalanche to settle its own planned tokenized securities platform, that Securitize has already launched tokenized stocks on Solana, and that an OKX-ICE venue is also in the works, though every Magnificent Seven stock opted out of that one.
Frequently asked questions
What is the SEC's Innovation Exemption?
According to Decrypt, the Innovation Exemption is conditional relief the SEC issued in September. It lets eligible tokenized stocks trade through permissioned automated market maker pools on qualifying venues. Formation Securities said it filed a notice to operate its Solana venue under it.
Do tokenized shares on Formation's venue carry voting and dividend rights?
Under the exemption, as Decrypt reports it, eligible tokens must carry the same voting and dividend rights as traditional shares. Each trade settles atomically onchain, and a company's transfer agent still keeps the official shareholder record.
Who can trade on the Formation Securities venue?
Access will be limited to verified investors. They can reach the venue through Formation's platform and distributors including Alpaca, CoinList's Passage, custodians Anchorage, BitGo and Fireblocks, and wallet providers Solflare and Squads.
