Tens of millions of people who hold a Blockchain.com account may soon be able to trade tokenized U.S.-listed stocks. They’d do it on a trading venue the New York Stock Exchange hasn’t finished building yet.
The New York Stock Exchange and Blockchain.com have signed a memorandum of understanding to launch tokenized stocks. That’s a promise to work together. It isn’t a launch, and the deal has conditions attached.
The fine print does a lot of work
Wednesday’s statement said that, if approved, Blockchain.com users would be able to trade tokenized U.S.-listed stocks and exchange-traded funds on NYSE’s planned digital alternative trading system. Two words matter there. “If approved” means the deal still needs sign-off. “Planned” means the venue doesn’t exist yet.
The NYSE first described that venue in January. It said it was building a platform where traders could buy and sell tokenized versions of U.S.-listed equities and exchange-traded funds and settle those trades on the blockchain, 24/7. The Blockchain.com deal is the first time we’ve seen who might send customers to it.
Both companies are pitching access
“People shouldn’t be limited in owning stocks based on where they happen to live or the brokerage and information they may or may not have access to,” Peter Smith, Blockchain.com’s executive chairman and CEO, said in a statement.
“Connecting to the NYSE digital alternative trading system will enable us to extend the opportunity to invest in these digital assets to tens of millions of Blockchain.com users around the world,” Smith said.
Lynn Martin, president of NYSE Group, went broader. “The future of capital markets belongs to institutions that unite the trust of traditional finance with the innovation and accessibility of digital assets,” Martin said.
Those are big claims. Neither company has said when trading would start or which stocks would be on offer first.
Wall Street keeps buying into crypto plumbing
This isn’t the NYSE family's first move into crypto. Earlier this year Intercontinental Exchange, the NYSE’s parent company, announced it had invested in crypto exchange OKX.
Tokenization is the main draw. BlackRock and Franklin Templeton have used blockchain rails to tokenize money funds for years. What’s new is the speed. Things picked up after the U.S. elected pro-crypto president Donald Trump and regulators took a friendlier approach to policing the space. Last week the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved tokenized stocks trading.
Other deals are already live
In January the S&P 500 gave crypto platform Trade[XYZ] the green light to launch a new derivative contract on decentralized exchange Hyperliquid. That lets traders trade the stock index 24-7.
Last month Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, announced a deal with fintech company SoFi Technologies. SoFi customers’ crypto orders will be routed through Kraken’s institutional trading platform, and SoFi’s stablecoin will be listed on the exchange.
Put the NYSE deal next to those two and it trails. The S&P contract and the SoFi routing have announced mechanics. The NYSE deal still has a memorandum, a trading system in development and an approval it doesn’t have yet. If you already hold a Blockchain.com account, don’t move money in expecting to buy tokenized NYSE shares next week. Wait until the NYSE opens its digital venue and names the first listings.
