The New York Stock Exchange’s plan to trade tokenized shares around the clock has found its settlement layer. Ava Labs said on Monday that its Avalanche blockchain will serve as the core ledger technology for the clearing firm behind an NYSE-affiliated venue, which is designed for continuous trading, clearing and settlement of tokenized securities.
Much of the Wall Street interest in tokenization has focused on individual products, such as a single fund or a single stock wrapped as a token. This deal is different because it places a blockchain beneath the clearing and settlement layer, the machinery that finalises trades. At present, US stocks settle one business day after the trade. The new venue aims for round-the-clock, near-instant settlement, funded through stablecoins, subject to regulatory approval.
The exchange’s parent, Intercontinental Exchange, first outlined the platform in January. The design keeps the NYSE’s Pillar matching engine at the centre of order handling and adds blockchain rails for what happens after the trade. One report says the venue is targeting a launch in the fourth quarter, although other coverage notes no firm date has been published and everything remains conditional on regulators.
The selection follows roughly a year of testing. Ava Labs president Charley Cooper said in September that the exchange had examined both the technology and the economics, though he declined at the time to say Avalanche had been chosen.
NYSE head of digital issuance Dennis Lee said the exchange is choosing the right technology for each job. The venue will support stocks issued on a range of blockchains, he said, but the ledger that records and settles trades must be fast and reliable, keep costs predictable, and let the exchange control who participates. Ava Labs chief executive Emin Gün Sirer pointed to the network’s atomic settlement and predictable fees.
Another Ava Labs executive, John Nahas, went further, arguing the deal marks the end of the “general purpose” era of blockchains. Traditional finance, he said, wants networks built to its own rules, with certainty about performance and control over participants. That is a notable pitch for a public chain, and it plays to Avalanche’s ability to host custom networks with their own permissions.
The market reacted quickly. AVAX gained around 8% over 24 hours after the news.
The venue has been assembling partners. Last week the NYSE announced agreements with Broadridge, Computershare, Equiniti and Superstate to support issuer-sponsored tokenized securities and transfer-agent functions, adding to earlier ties with Securitize and tZERO. It has also struck a separate deal with Blockchain.com to reach crypto investors with tokenized stocks and ETFs.
Not everything is smooth. A parallel effort between ICE and crypto exchange OKX to build a 24/7 tokenized stock venue under an SEC exemption has hit resistance: every one of the Magnificent Seven stocks, including Apple and Meta, has opted out of having its shares tokenized there, along with 67 companies in total.
Demand is also uneven. An IMF study found tokenized stocks attract genuine interest but remain volatile and illiquid. In other words, the infrastructure may be arriving faster than the liquidity needed to fill it.
