The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday granted a bespoke regulatory exemption allowing intraday trading of tokenized shares in WisdomTree's Treasury Money Market Digital Fund, the agency said. The relief was issued specifically to permit transactions in tokenized fund shares during the trading day rather than requiring end-of-day dealings.
According to the SEC, the one-off relief could shorten settlement times and improve access for retail investors. Under standard mutual fund rules, purchases and redemptions are typically processed at the fund's net asset value after markets close. Without this exemption, investors in the tokenized money market fund would have been required to transact at that end-of-day price.
WisdomTree's head of digital assets, Will Peck, said the firm was "thrilled" by the development and characterized the approval as the first instance of any tokenized mutual fund receiving such treatment.
"This relief preserves the protections of a regulated money market fund while permitting retail investors intra-day liquidity," Brian Daly, the SEC's head of Investment Management, said in a statement.
The SEC's action represents another step in the gradual expansion of tokenization within capital markets - the practice of enabling transactions and ownership records on distributed ledgers, commonly referred to as blockchains. The agency framed the exemption as consistent with preserving the existing regulatory protections for money market funds while allowing intra-day liquidity via tokenized shares.
Tokenized securities have drawn increasing attention as crypto-focused firms pursue opportunities in a regulatory environment in Washington that has warmed toward certain digital asset initiatives. In this case, the SEC's tailored relief is narrowly targeted: it applies to the tokenized shares of this specific money market fund and does not represent a blanket rule change.
Market participants and observers will now weigh how this specific exemption might influence future tokenization efforts across asset managers and trading venues, particularly for products serving retail investors and funds that prioritize liquidity and rapid settlement. For now, the approved relief leaves intact the protections of a regulated money market fund while enabling intra-day tokenized activity for the fund named by WisdomTree.