Goldman Sachs analysts say SEC’s innovation exemption could benefit Coinbase, Robinhood

The SEC just handed crypto-native trading platforms a significant regulatory gift. Goldman Sachs analysts are pointing to Coinbase and Robinhood as primary beneficiaries of the agency’s new “Innovation Exemption,” a five-year framework designed to let firms experiment with onchain stock trading without jumping through the usual exchange-registration hoops. The exemption creates a new category called Tokenized Securities Venues, or TSVs, which can use permissioned automated market makers and liquidity pools to facilitate trading of tokenized National Market System stocks. What the exemption actually does The Innovation Exemption, effective September 17, 2026, and set to expire five years later on September 17, 2031, provides conditional regulatory relief to qualifying platforms. Instead of forcing every venue that wants to trade tokenized equities to register as a full-blown traditional exchange, the SEC is letting TSVs operate under a lighter framework. There’s a critical catch, though. Tokenized stocks traded under this exemption must carry full shareholder rights, including dividends and voting power. Synthetic products that merely offer derivative price exposure without actual o...