NYSE to settle tokenized stocks on Avalanche in planned 24/7 market

The New York Stock Exchange has selected Avalanche blockchain for clearing and settlement on its planned 24/7 tokenized-securities platform, Ava Labs said in a statement on Monday.

The platform is being designed to support around-the-clock trading, clearing, and settlement of tokenized securities, pending regulatory approval. It is targeting a fourth-quarter launch and will use NYSE’s existing technology to match trades, according to The Wall Street Journal.

"It will support the platform's 24/7 atomic settlement needs with dedicated infrastructure with predictable performance and costs, the control to meet its regulatory and operational requirements, and connectivity to a broader ecosystem of assets and liquidity," Ava Labs CEO Emin Gün Sirer said in the statement.

The selection follows about a year of testing. Ava Labs President Charley Cooper told The Block in September that NYSE had spent the previous year testing Avalanche and working with the company on how the technology could fit into its systems.

Cooper said NYSE had also examined the project’s economics and technology, but stopped short of confirming a selection. ICE Head of Strategic Initiatives Michael Blaugrund said at the time that the exchange operator was "very engaged" with Avalanche.

NYSE Head of Digital Issuance Dennis Lee said the exchange is evaluating different technologies for different parts of the platform. The venue will support equities listed on a range of blockchains, while its settlement ledger needs to provide speed, reliability, predictable costs, and control over who can participate, he said.

The exchange has also enlisted more partners supporting the venue. Last week, it announced agreements with Broadridge Financial Solutions, Computershare, Equiniti, and Superstate to support issuer-sponsored tokenized securities and transfer-agent functions. Securitize and tZERO were already listed as partners.