The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is actively building an onchain settlement platform tailored for tokenized securities, NYSE President Lynn Martin confirmed during a seminar at the National Assembly in Seoul on August 10, 2026. This initiative signals a major step toward integrating traditional finance with decentralized infrastructure.
The exchange first outlined its plans in January 2026, aiming for a digital venue that would support 24/7 trading, instant settlement, fractional shares, and stablecoin-based funding. The platform would combine NYSE’s Pillar matching engine with blockchain-based post-trade infrastructure, enabling tokenized versions of traditional securities as well as natively issued tokenized assets. Holders would retain standard dividend and governance rights, and the system is designed to operate across multiple blockchain networks.
NYSE also participated in The Depository Trust Company’s (DTC) tokenization pilot in July 2026, which involved live production transactions across equity delivery versus payment, Treasury repos, securities lending, and margin processes. More than 30 firms took part, including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Nasdaq, Circle, Ondo Finance, Citadel Securities, and Vanguard. The pilot ran on both DTCC’s private Besu network and the public Canton network, using a December 2025 SEC no-action letter that allowed DTC to run the tokenization program for three years.
In April 2026, an SEC filing established rules allowing eligible tokenized securities to trade alongside traditional shares on the NYSE order book under the same ticker and CUSIP. Eligible assets include Russell 1000 components and major ETFs. While trades under the DTC pilot settle on a T+1 basis, the dedicated 24/7 platform remains subject to additional regulatory approvals.
NYSE further contracted Securitize as the first digital transfer agent authorized to mint blockchain-native securities for the upcoming platform. Martin described the current moment as a “critical turning point between traditional finance and DeFi.” DTCC plans to launch its broader Tokenization Service in October 2026, and NYSE will provide at least 30 days’ notice before commencing tokenized trading under the DTC pilot.
