TLDR

• The SEC is preparing a framework to allow tokenized stocks to trade on crypto platforms under lighter regulatory requirements.
• The proposal would let third parties issue tokens that track stock prices without approval from the underlying companies.
• Token holders would not receive shareholder rights such as voting power or dividend payments.
• Tokenized stocks would trade continuously on blockchain networks without traditional market-hour restrictions.
• Market data shows the tokenized equities sector has reached about $1.4 billion in total value.

U.S. regulators are preparing a new framework that could allow blockchain-based stock trading on crypto platforms. The plan focuses on tokenized securities and aims to ease compliance requirements for certain providers. Bloomberg reported that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission may release the proposal within days.

SEC Outlines Structure for Tokenized Stocks Framework

The SEC is developing an “innovation exemption” to support tokenized securities trading under lighter rules. The proposal would allow platforms to offer digital stock representations without full registration compliance. Sources familiar with the matter said the agency could introduce the framework as early as next week.

The structure allows third parties to issue tokens that track publicly traded shares without company approval. These tokens would reflect stock prices but would not represent direct ownership in the underlying firms. As a result, holders would not receive voting rights, dividends, or participation in corporate decisions.

The tokens would operate on blockchain networks and trade continuously across global crypto platforms. This system would remove traditional trading hour limits and reduce settlement delays. However, the SEC has not issued an official comment on the reported framework.

Market Activity Grows as Institutions Advance Tokenized Stocks

Market data shows that tokenized equities continue to expand in scale and activity across platforms. Data from RWA.xyz indicates the sector holds about $1.4 billion across more than 2,200 assets. The total value increased by about 30% over the past 30 days, while monthly transfer volume reached $3.24 billion.

The number of token holders also rose by 25% within a month to about 265,000 users. These figures reflect rising participation in blockchain-based financial products. Meanwhile, trading platforms continue to develop infrastructure to support this growth.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation plans to begin limited tokenized asset trades in July. It also aims to expand the program into broader production use by October. The DTCC processes most U.S. securities transactions, and its entry supports operational development in this space.

Exchanges and Regulators Align on Digital Trading Systems

Nasdaq secured SEC approval in March for a rule change supporting tokenized share trading. The framework ensures that investors retain traditional ownership rights through regulated structures. The New York Stock Exchange also received approval in April to build a platform for continuous onchain settlement.

Intercontinental Exchange, which owns the NYSE, partnered with crypto exchange OKX to support this effort. The collaboration focuses on integrating blockchain systems with established trading infrastructure. These developments show coordinated steps between exchanges and regulators.

SEC Chair Paul Atkins has emphasized the need for updated regulatory approaches to digital markets. He stated that existing rules were designed for systems with fixed hours and human intermediaries. He said regulators should “write rules instead of enforcing outdated frameworks” to guide emerging technologies. The Senate Banking Committee recently advanced legislation related to crypto market structure. Lawmakers continue to work on clearer guidelines for digital asset regulation.

Wego integrates stablecoin payments through Triple-A partnership

Wego, the travel marketplace that says it is the leading travel app in the Middle East and North Africa, has added support for stablecoin payments via a partnership with payments firm Triple-A. The move lets customers complete bookings with supported stablecoins while Wego receives settlement in local fiat currencies, a setup that aims to bridge consumer demand for crypto payment options with merchant needs for predictable settlement.

The integration reflects growing interest among travel platforms in digital-asset rails for cross-border payments, where card declines, interchange fees, and foreign-exchange frictions can undermine booking completion. Wego said the new option will be available for flight and other travel bookings, with the payments conversion, compliance checks and custody handled by Triple-A.

How the flow works and what it changes

Under the arrangement, a traveler pays in a supported stablecoin at checkout. Triple-A processes the incoming digital-asset payment, runs the necessary anti-money laundering and know-your-customer checks, converts the stablecoins, and settles the merchant in traditional local currencies. From the merchant perspective, the integration preserves Wego’s existing settlement structure while adding an alternative payment rail for customers.

Triple-A positions itself as a licensed global payment institution with registrations and licenses across jurisdictions, including the United States, Singapore, and European oversight, and it says it supports more than 1,000 enterprise customers and reaches roughly 700 million digital currency owners. Those institutional capabilities are central to the value proposition: merchants gain access to crypto-native demand without taking on custody or foreign-exchange exposure.

Market context: why travel is an early use case

Travel is an inherently cross-border industry, making it a natural candidate for alternative payment rails. Card declines are more common for international transactions, and many consumers in regions with limited card penetration prefer nontraditional payment methods. Stablecoins, which are designed to maintain a peg to a fiat reference, reduce the volatility issues that otherwise complicate merchant acceptance of cryptocurrencies.

Payments providers and travel platforms have been experimenting with crypto rails for several years, ranging from direct acceptance to tokenized loyalty and payment orchestration. Wego’s approach follows a broader trend of using intermediaries to convert crypto payments into fiat before settlement, a model that reduces operational complexity for travel sellers while tapping crypto demand.

Implications for bookings, merchants and consumers

One immediate operational aim of the integration is to improve booking completion rates in markets where card acceptance is constrained or where international transactions have elevated decline rates. By offering a native crypto checkout, travel platforms may reduce friction for customers who already hold stablecoins and prefer to use them for everyday purchases.

For merchants, the key advantage is access to new payment demand without assuming custody or FX risk. Third-party processors like Triple-A handle conversion and compliance, which can shorten the path to offering crypto payment options while maintaining existing back-office processes.

However, wider adoption depends on consumer education, merchant economics, and regulatory clarity. Travel platforms will need to assess the incremental cost of accepting crypto-derived payments versus other digital rails and the potential lift in conversions.

Regulatory and compliance considerations

Payments that originate in digital assets remain subject to evolving regulation. Triple-A emphasizes compliance through AML and KYC controls and its cross-jurisdictional registrations. That compliance layer is crucial for travel companies that operate across multiple countries and for regulators scrutinizing stablecoin flows.

Policymakers in several regions are increasingly focused on stablecoins, covering issues such as reserve backing, consumer protections, and cross-border settlement. Travel companies integrating these payment options must monitor regulatory developments and ensure their partners maintain transparent custody and conversion practices.

Outlook

Wego’s partnership with Triple-A illustrates how travel companies are experimenting with crypto payments while limiting exposure to volatility and custody complexity. If the integration improves conversions in target markets, it could encourage other travel platforms to pursue similar arrangements. At the same time, broader merchant acceptance will hinge on clear economics, consumer demand, and a stable regulatory environment for stablecoins.

As the travel sector continues to globalize its payment stack, intermediaries that can combine compliance, liquidity and local settlement may play an increasingly important role in connecting crypto-native customers with traditional merchants.

Disclosure: This article is based on statements and data provided by the companies involved. Quotes attributed to Wego and Triple-A were included in their public announcement.

Bitcoin (BTC) traders have shifted their focus lower after futures and order book data point to strong buyer interest in the $68,000-$70,000 zone.

Sell pressure has increased in the derivatives markets and the daily bid-ask ratio fell to -0.03, showing sellers are currently more aggressive than buyers as traders position around liquidation levels.

Bitcoin buyers cluster near $68,000

The visible range volume profile (VRVP) indicator shows the $68,000-$70,000 region as the most densely traded zone on the chart since November 2025. High trading activity in that price range suggests most positions were opened near those levels over the past few months.

The order book data also shows a bid-ask ratio of -0.03, with the metric remaining in negative territory for most of the past month as sell-side activity continued to outweigh aggressive buying pressure. 

BTC/USDT price, bid-ask ratio and VPVR profile. Source: Hyblock

Liquidation data adds another pressure point. The heatmap shows more than $3.4 billion in cumulative long positions exposed near $74,700. The figure rises toward $11 billion if Bitcoin falls to $70,000 across the 90-day liquidation range.

Taken together, the positioning data suggests traders are prioritizing deeper liquidity pools rather than chasing higher prices above $80,000.

Bitcoin exchange liquidation map. Source: CoinGlass

Related: Bitcoin price stays under $77K as US bond yields near 20-year highs

BTC retail longs are crowded

Crypto analytics platform Hyblock noted Bitcoin retail traders are again leaning heavily bullish as its “True Retail Accounts” long percentage metric climbed above 60%. The indicator tracks the share of retail futures accounts holding long positions.

BTC/USDT, one-day chart. Source: Hyblock/X

Previous spikes into the platform’s “extreme long” zone aligned with short-term local tops during rallies toward the $78,000-$82,000 range in early May. The price momentum later cooled after retail positioning became too crowded.

Hyblock explained that the strongest recovery points appeared when retail traders turned aggressively bearish. Several periods when fewer than 35% of retail accounts held long positions emerged near Bitcoin’s lows in March and April, before BTC rebounded from the mid-$60,000 range.

Hyblock combines the retail positioning metric with a 14-period relative strength index (RSI) reading to identify sentiment extremes for BTC.

The latest reading shows the TRA Long (%) near 60.7%, while the RSI stayed elevated at 74.9, suggesting retail traders are still positioned for prices near $76,000. This could lead to deeper correction if BTC follows its previous market behavior. 

Related: Bitcoin miner Canaan posts $88.7M net loss in Q1 amid BTC decline

Bitcoin miners are emerging as an important part of the AI infrastructure supply chain because they control large amounts of power capacity and data center real estate that are increasingly difficult to secure, according to a new research note from Bernstein.

Analysts Gautam Chhugani, Mahika Sapra, Sanskar Chindalia and Harsh Misra estimate that publicly traded Bitcoin miners control more than 27 gigawatts of planned power capacity and have announced more than $90 billion in AI-related agreements covering 3.7 gigawatts with hyperscalers, neocloud providers and chipmakers.

An April 29 research brief from RAND said that it expects the US will add approximately 82 GW of additional net available capacity by 2030.

The planned power portfolio of 11 public Bitcoin mining companies. Source: Bernstein

According to Bernstein, access to electricity, rather than chips, has become the primary bottleneck for scaling AI data centers. Utility providers can take more than four years to approve new grid connections, even in data center-friendly states such as Texas.

“The median waiting time to secure a GW of power is nothing less than ~50 months across states, and even in politically friendly states such as Texas, the utility is following a batch review process to navigate the interconnect queue and resource load,” the analysts wrote.

Growing regulatory scrutiny and local opposition to large-scale data centers are adding to those delays, giving Bitcoin miners an advantage because they already operate grid-connected sites and have experience managing high-density computing facilities.

Related: The real ‘supercycle’ isn’t crypto, it’s AI infrastructure: Analyst

A shift in miner economics

Bernstein said Bitcoin miners are increasingly diversifying into AI infrastructure as they look for new revenue streams following the 2024 halving, which reduced mining rewards and put pressure on profit margins.

The report said several miners have moved beyond their traditional focus on Bitcoin production to develop AI data centers and high-performance computing facilities.

One recent example is Soluna Holdings, which reported a 58% increase in first-quarter revenue, driven primarily by its data center hosting business, while crypto mining contributed a smaller share of total sales.

Bernstein has also highlighted IREN as a leading example of the shift. The firm said IREN is well-positioned to transition much of its business toward AI infrastructure following its multibillion-dollar agreements with Microsoft.

IREN’s partnership with Microsoft could fundamentally change its business model, according to Bernstein. Source: Bernstein

Related: CoreWeave’s $8.5B loan shows how AI is replacing crypto mining finance