NYSE Taps Blockchain.com to Reach Crypto Investors With Tokenized Stocks

Crypto exchange Blockchain.com wants to bring Wall Street to its app and keep it open around the clock.

The company signed a memorandum of understanding with NYSE Group to offer its users tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs through the New York Stock Exchange’s planned digital trading venue, the firms said Wednesday. The arrangement is subject to any required regulatory approvals, and the NYSE platform has yet to launch.

Tokenized stocks are blockchain-based tokens representing shares of listed companies. Backers say they enable fractional ownership, trading outside market hours and faster settlement.

The NYSE, owned by Intercontinental Exchange, announced in January that it is building the venue as a digital alternative trading system, or ATS. An ATS is a regulated marketplace that operates outside a traditional exchange, and this one promises 24/7 trading and instant on-chain settlement.

The deal gives the NYSE a pipeline to crypto-native investors. Blockchain.com says it has more than 44 million confirmed accounts across more than 70 jurisdictions.

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“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,” Blockchain.com CEO and co-founder Peter Smith said.

The pact also covers data. ICE Data Services plans to distribute Blockchain.com’s crypto market data to its subscribers, while Blockchain.com will add certain NYSE and ICE feeds to its app.

The timing tracks with Washington’s shift. Last week, the SEC unveiled an “innovation exemption” letting qualifying venues trade tokenized U.S. stocks on public blockchains without registering as exchanges. The move came days after the Clarity Act, legislation that would have codified this and other crypto-related activity into law, stalled in the Senate.

Blockchain.com, which confidentially filed for a U.S. IPO in May, faces growing competition. Coinbase launched tokenized stocks on Base, its Ethereum layer-2 network, for non-U.S. users in August, and other crypto venues are racing to launch their own tokenized stock offerings for both U.S. and non-U.S. users.

Neither company disclosed a launch date or financial terms.