SEC Approves New Exchange for Blockchain

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has added the country’s 17th stock exchange, one that will contain blockchain technology.

BOX Exchange (BSTX), a joint venture of BOX Digital Markets and tZERO Group will be called BSTX, the Boston-based company announced last week.

“The SEC has taken an important step forward today in its approval of BSTX as a national securities exchange facility,” said BSTX CEO Lisa Fall in a statement. “We are eager to continue to work closely with the SEC to launch BSTX as a fully regulated exchange and to help provide capital markets with more modern tools for issuers and investors.”

BSTX promises to be the first securities exchange to allow investors to choose accelerated settlements for transactions. In addition, the company said the trading activity will use a secure, private blockchain that makes market data available to investors.

Reuters reported the new exchange is expected to launch in the second quarter.

As the newest exchange, BSTX said it has created a new arena for investors and issuers to establish a standard for blockchain by the adoption of innovative technology for use in the mainstream securities markets.

In its notice, the SEC ruled the proposal meets the requirements to be registered. It noted the proposed rules for BSTX are substantively similar to the corresponding rules of other equities exchanges.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler recently made another push to bring cryptocurrency exchanges within his agency’s remit.

Read more: Gensler: SEC Is Coming for Crypto Exchanges

The former professor of cryptocurrency and blockchain at MIT has been an advocate of tougher regulation. He has repeatedly called crypto the “Wild West” of finance, suggesting that it is lawless.

Gensler has said his focus has been the regulation of cryptocurrencies themselves, arguing that nearly all qualify as securities to be regulated by his agency.