The AVAX token of Avalanche once rose by 10% on Monday, becoming the token with the largest increase among the top 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. This was because the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) announced its plan to use its blockchain to settle transactions on a new, 24/7 tokenized stock trading platform.
According to the data from CoinGecko up to 3:22 PM on UTC, AVAX subsequently fell back to $8.86, but still rose by over 8% for the day. The current market value of this token is approximately $3.95 billion, with trading volume in the past 24 hours amounting to $439.7 million. DeFiLlama data shows that the total locked-up value ( TVL ) of the Avalanche blockchain is $633 million, which has increased by 4% in the past 24 hours.
NYSE, the person in charge of digital issuance, Dennis Lee, stated in the announcement: "In NYSE, we are studying how blockchain technology can expand our products in the stock field, and we will choose the appropriate technology for each task."
This collaboration highlights the increasing use of blockchain technology by Wall Street firms to speed up stock trading and enable investors to trade outside of regular trading hours. Typically, the traditional U.S. stock market is open from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time on weekdays, and it often takes at least one working day for transactions to be settled.
NYSE first announced plans for this platform in January. In September, Ava Labs revealed that the exchange had spent about a year testing Avalanche, but the final choice of blockchain was not confirmed until Monday.
NYSE selects Avalanche
Ava Labs indicates that NYSE will use the Avalanche blockchain to track stock transactions and assist in completing transactions on its planned trading platform. This platform will allow investors to buy and sell digital versions of stocks on different blockchains, while Avalanche will be used to record these transactions and ensure their completion.
Lee said, "The upcoming digital trading platform will support stocks listed on multiple blockchains, but the ledgers for recording and settling transactions need to be fast and reliable, allowing us to control who can participate, keeping costs predictable, and it must be backed by a large developer community. Avalanche meets all these requirements."
According to The Wall Street Journal, if regulatory approval is obtained, the platform could go live by the end of 2026.
Ava Labs Chief Commercial Officer John Nahas said to Cointelegraph: "Our first communication with the NYSE team started nearly a year ago, and it's amazing that we have been able to progress so rapidly to support this infrastructure. This is an important step for blockchain to become a fundamental financial infrastructure."
Wall Street steps up tokenization of stocks
At the time of this announcement, other large financial institutions were also investing in blockchain technology to accelerate stock trading and enable 24/7 trading.
In September, NASDAQ announced plans to invest $100 million in Kraken's parent company, Payward, to launch tokenized stocks. The project is expected to go live in the second quarter of 2027.
Meanwhile, the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) responsible for securities trading and settlement in the United States launched a service in October that allows financial institutions to convert traditional securities into digital tokens.
DTCC CEO Frank La Salla stated at the time: "Today marks the result of years of effort; we have finally brought tokenized securities into a regulated framework supported by credible market infrastructure. By extending the resilience, governance, and operational standards of DTC to the digital market, we are laying the foundation for responsible, scaled-up institutional adoption."
NYSE This transaction also continues the efforts of other financial institutions to introduce traditional financial assets into Avalanche. In July, Japanese fintech company Progmat announced that it had migrated digital securities worth over 452 billion yen onto a dedicated Avalanche blockchain.
In September, Aave Labs also announced plans to launch a lending service on Avalanche, allowing financial institutions to use tokenized assets as collateral to borrow Tether's USAT stablecoins.
