New York Stock Exchange Reveals Trading Platform for Tokenized Stocks and ETFs

In brief

The New York Stock Exchange is developing a blockchain-based tokenized stocks trading platform.
The platform would allow for trading of traditional tokenized equities as well as native tokenized equities.
The launch is subject to regulatory approval.

The city that never sleeps may soon have a stock exchange that runs all night, powered by blockchain.

The New York Stock Exchange, operated by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), announced Monday that it is developing a blockchain-based trading platform for tokenized securities—one that would operate with instant settlement 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“For more than two centuries, the NYSE has transformed the way markets operate,” said President of NYSE Group Lynn Martin, in a statement. “We are leading the industry toward fully on-chain solutions, grounded in the unmatched protections and high regulatory standards that position us to marry trust with state-of-the-art technology.”

The platform would combine the exchange’s trading technology platform with blockchain post-trade systems and support settlement across multiple blockchains, though no specific networks were named in Monday’s announcement.

The new trading platform will support the trading of tokenized shares of traditional securities, as well as native tokenized securities, while allowing investors to participate in shareholder dividends and governance.

“Since its founding, ICE has propelled markets from analog to digital,” said ICE VP of Strategic Initiatives Michael Blaugrund, in a statement. “Supporting tokenized securities is a pivotal step in ICE’s strategy to operate on-chain market infrastructure for trading, settlement, custody, and capital formation in the new era of global finance.”

The firm is working with major banking institutions BNY and Citi to assist in the tokenized deposit process, as well as fund transfer and management across its clearinghouses outside of traditional banking hours and across different time zones.

A timeline for the platform launch, which is subject to regulatory approval, was not provided. A representative for the firm did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment.

Tokenization has been one of the strongest blockchain-related themes in the last year, with BlackRock’s Larry Fink calling it “the next major evolution in market infrastructure.” Last year, Robinhood launched tokenized equities for its European users, and Coinbase plans to add support for tokenized equity trading in the first quarter of the year.