NYSE spent a year testing Avalanche for tokenized trading, Ava Labs says

The New York Stock Exchange has spent roughly a year testing Avalanche ↘ 0.83% blockchain technology as it builds infrastructure for a planned tokenized securities platform, Ava Labs President Charley Cooper disclosed Thursday at the Avalanche Summit in New York.theblock+1

Cooper said NYSE examined both the technology and economics behind Avalanche while assessing how the network could integrate with its existing systems. "They weren't just kicking the tires on our technology," Cooper told The Block. "They wanted to make sure that we understood their business and their economics."theblock

ICE Signals Strong Interest

Intercontinental Exchange ↘ 0.99% Head of Strategic Initiatives Michael Blaugrund joined Cooper onstage at the summit, where he confirmed that ICE, NYSE's parent company, has remained closely engaged with the Avalanche team. "Avalanche checks a lot of those boxes for us," Blaugrund said.dailycoin+1

Cooper described a "close working relationship" between the two sides but stopped short of declaring Avalanche the chosen blockchain. "I leave it to the NYSE guys to talk publicly about where they are in the whole process," he said. NYSE's proposed platform architecture is designed to support multiple blockchain networks for settlement and custody, and the exchange has not publicly named a final selection.crypto

The Planned Platform

NYSE announced in January that it was developing a venue for trading and onchain settlement of tokenized U.S. equities and exchange-traded funds, subject to regulatory approval. The system would combine NYSE's Pillar matching engine with blockchain-based post-trade infrastructure, offering features including continuous trading, immediate settlement, fractional shares, and stablecoin-based funding.coinedition+1

ICE has been assembling partners around the project. In March, NYSE signed a memorandum with Securitize naming it as its first digital transfer agent. In August, ICE agreed to invest in tZERO and license its blockchain patents for infrastructure supporting the issuance, trading, and settlement of public securities.crypto

Regulatory Shift

The disclosures came the same day the SEC released a five-year innovation exemption allowing certain onchain trading of tokenized stocks through permissioned automated market makers. Cooper said some venues could begin offering 24-hour weekday trading within a year, though he expressed uncertainty about whether the largest global exchanges would move on that timeline. "There are a lot of smaller venues that are making a very compelling case to the world to put liquidity on them," he said.dailycoin+1