NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) announces the development of a 24/7 tokenized stock platform: a deep integration of traditional finance and the crypto world

The President of NYSE Group, Lynn Martin, stated: “For over two centuries, the New York Stock Exchange has fundamentally transformed the way markets operate. We are leading the industry toward fully on-chain solutions.”

The new platform will allow investors to trade using stablecoins around the clock and settle within seconds, completely changing the current T+1 settlement mechanism of the US stock market. Investors in tokenized stocks will enjoy the same dividends and voting rights as traditional shareholders, while also experiencing a new level of 24/7 trading and instant settlement.

The Beginning of Transformation: NYSE’s Blockchain Blueprint

On January 19, 2026, NYSE officially announced that it is developing a brand-new digital platform dedicated to trading and settling tokenized securities. This move marks the global largest securities exchange with a 233-year history stepping into a new phase of blockchain technology application.

NYSE plans to design this platform to support 24/7 continuous trading, instant settlement, order sizes determined in USD, and financing based on stablecoins. The core innovation of this platform lies in combining NYSE’s existing Pillar matching engine with a blockchain-based post-trade processing system. In other words, order matching will still be handled by NYSE’s mature technology, while ownership transfer and settlement will be completed on the blockchain.

Technical Architecture: A Clever Integration of Old and New Systems

Michael Blauglen, Vice President of Strategic Projects at Intercontinental Exchange, explained: “This reflects the evolution path of NYSE’s trading capabilities—from traditional trading floors, to electronic order books, to blockchain.” The new platform will support settlement and custody across multiple blockchains, meaning more mainstream public chains could potentially connect to this system in the future.

For investors, the most immediate change will be the liberation of trading hours and improved settlement efficiency. Currently, US stock market trading hours are about 6.5 hours per trading day, but the tokenized platform will enable truly 24/7 trading. Meanwhile, the traditional T+1 settlement delay will be replaced by near-instant settlement on the blockchain within seconds to minutes. Blauglen pointed out that this aligns closely with the growing demand from retail investors who want to trade outside traditional hours and have immediate access to funds.

Industry Background: Dual Drivers of Regulation and Market Development

This plan by NYSE is not an isolated event but part of the digitalization process of the US financial system. In July 2025, the United States signed into law the first federal regulatory framework for stablecoins, the GENIUS Act, providing a clear regulatory environment for financial institutions to promote stablecoin adoption.

Also in December 2025, depositary trust companies received no-objection letters from the SEC, allowing them to tokenize some of their custodial assets. This approval signifies that the core infrastructure of the US financial system has been authorized to explore blockchain applications, opening the door for broader asset tokenization.

NYSE’s main competitor, Nasdaq, also submitted documents to the SEC in December 2025, planning to extend trading hours for stocks and related products from 16 hours daily to 23 hours, with new trading rules expected to be implemented in the second half of 2026.

Market Competition: Multiple Players Enter the Tokenization Race

The tokenization of US stocks is rapidly becoming crowded. Just days before NYSE announced its plans, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong stated that the company is working to transform from a crypto trading platform into a full-service trading platform, with plans to open stock trading to all customers within weeks. Armstrong pointed out that although they currently offer stock trading in a traditional manner, their ultimate goal is to issue stocks natively on the blockchain.

Ondo Finance also announced that in early 2026, it will launch tokenized US stocks and ETFs on the Solana blockchain. The company has established a significant position in the RWA tokenization field, with its USDY dollar yield token managing over $500 million in assets. Asset tokenization platform Securitize plans to launch a full on-chain stock trading marketplace called “Stocks on Securitize” in Q1 2026, aiming to enable investors to directly own and trade shares of real public companies via blockchain.

Cryptocurrency Market Connection: A New Dimension of Value Discovery

NYE’s plan has deep ties to the crypto market. Binance founder Zhao Changpeng publicly supported NYSE’s tokenized securities platform plan, calling it a positive development for crypto assets and trading venues.

Market data shows that mainstream crypto assets have recently experienced a correction. According to Gate data as of January 21, 2026, Bitcoin is priced at $89,388.8, with a market cap of $1.84T, accounting for 56.42% market share, with a 24-hour change of -3.14%. Ethereum is priced at $2,976.69, with a market cap of $360.18B, holding 11.38% market share, with a 24-hour change of -6.49%.

The adoption of blockchain technology by traditional financial institutions could bring broader institutional participation and liquidity to the crypto market. Market analyst Adam Livingston echoed CZ’s view, considering NYSE’s announcement as a positive signal and suggesting that Bitcoin buying interest could significantly increase in response to these infrastructural changes.

Potential Impact: Reshaping Financial Market Infrastructure

The core advantages of tokenized stocks and ETFs lie in addressing the efficiency issues of traditional financial markets. The US stock market still relies on a hierarchical structure designed for the pre-digital era, with trading, clearing, settlement, and custody handled by different entities, each maintaining its own ledger. This structure results in funds being tied up during settlement windows, persistent counterparty risk, and increased reconciliation costs and operational risks among intermediaries.

Tokenization uses digital ledgers to enable near real-time ownership updates and settlement, improving capital efficiency and simplifying post-trade processes. More importantly, tokenization does not change the essence of stocks; it changes how the system processes stock ownership. Shareholders of tokenized securities will participate in traditional dividends and corporate governance, maintaining the core function of stocks as ownership certificates.

Future Outlook: Challenges and Opportunities

Despite the promising prospects of NYSE’s plan, achieving this vision faces multiple challenges. Regulatory approval is the primary hurdle, as NYSE has explicitly stated that the platform still needs regulatory clearance. Other participants like Ondo Finance also face similar approval processes, including securities registration, transfer agent compliance, broker-dealer requirements, and other regulatory hurdles. Smart contract vulnerabilities could lead to theft or loss of tokenized stocks, which is a significant technical risk. Corporate actions such as mergers, acquisitions, or bankruptcies are complex and may not be fully automatable through smart contracts.

Nevertheless, Alex Thorne, head of research at Galaxy Digital, considers NYSE’s move as “a significant step forward,” with self-custody, blockchain-based settlement, peer-to-peer transfers, and potential integration with decentralized finance becoming key enhancements for each tokenized stock instrument.

Following NYSE’s announcement, the boundaries between traditional finance and the crypto world have further blurred. Discussions about the “US stock tokenization wave” have already begun within the Gate platform, with some viewing it as “not a short-term hype but a genuine long-term evolution worth paying attention to.” As stocks of Apple and Tesla flow on the blockchain like cryptocurrencies, the closing bell on Wall Street will no longer mean the end of trading, and global investors’ funds will seek value like stablecoins in a 24/7, always-open market. Under this trend of integration, the traditional “stock market hours” and “crypto time” are converging into a truly 24/7 global financial market. Once the platform receives regulatory approval, it will be able to settle directly using stablecoins in real-time, marking a shift where the US dollar itself is flowing into the crypto market. This fusion of capital flows could ultimately render the terms “traditional finance” and “crypto finance” obsolete.