NYSE Aims to Use Blockchain to Enable Extended Trading

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is exploring the use of blockchain technology and tokenization to enable real-time or near real-time settlement and extended trading hours, Chief Product Officer Jon Herrick said Thursday (March 26), according to a CoinDesk report.

Speaking at the Digital Asset Summit in New York, Herrick said blockchain and traditional finance are likely to merge in a way that adds new capabilities while retaining aspects of the existing market structure such as regulation, clearing systems and investor protections, per the report. He added that the distinction between the two may fade.

In a video clip shared in a post on X by the organizers of the Digital Asset Summit, Herrick said: “I think it is, above all else, striving for interoperability, striving to build on top of what exists. What that does is; it forces you to think of things like regulation. It doesn’t mean that all regulation has to stay exactly as it is, but regulation becomes like a design constraint. It’s like latency or gas fees.”

The NYSE said Tuesday (March 24) that it is teaming with Securitize to build its tokenized securities trading platform. With this partnership, NYSE has named Securitize the first digital transfer agent eligible to mint blockchain-native securities for corporate or ETF issuers on the platform.

The companies said they would work together to create standards for digital transfer agents and tokenization agents taking part in the digital ecosystem. The focus here will be on developing “regulatory, operational and technology requirements” for institutional-grade tokenized securities infrastructure, they said in a press release.

About two weeks earlier, on March 5, NYSE parent company Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) announced a strategic relationship and investment in blockchain technology and trading company OKX.

ICE said in a press release that it will have a board seat on OKX’s board of directors and that it will collaborate with the company to leverage OKX’s blockchain infrastructure and global reach together with ICE’s market technology, regulatory frameworks and institutional community.

In January, Michael Blaugrund, vice president of strategic initiatives at ICE, told Bloomberg News that the NYSE is creating a venue for round-the-clock tokenized stock trading. The launch of this new platform could come later this year, pending regulatory approval, per the report.