Wall Street’s Crypto Ties Deepen as NYSE Taps Securitize for Tokenized Securities

The New York Stock Exchange said Tuesday that it’s collaborating with Securitize, the BlackRock-backed tokenization specialist, on a program aimed at accelerating Wall Street’s shift toward trading infrastructure underpinned by digital assets.

As part of the arrangement, the world’s largest stock exchange by market capitalization will work with Securitize on developing standards for tokens that represent real-world assets like stocks and bonds, as well as exchange-traded funds, according to a joint press release.

Securitize is also slated to serve as the first digital transfer agent for NYSE’s Digital Trading Platform, the companies said. That will enable Securitize to create “blockchain-native securities” on the NYSE-affiliated platform, which is designed to facilitate round-the-clock trading.

The collaboration comes as the latest sign that giants in traditional finance are growing serious about perceived opportunities with blockchain-based trading infrastructure. Last year, SEC Chair Paul Atkins unveiled Project Crypto, describing it as an agency-wide initiative to develop rules and regulations that “enable America’s financial markets to move on-chain.”

Last week, Nasdaq gained approval from the watchdog for a pilot program involving tokenized securities. The system is expected to keep trading and settlement within traditional market rails through coordination with a subsidiary of Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation.

As experimentation with tokenization intensified last year, Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo told Decrypt that the only way to truly represent securities on-chain is through “native” tokenization. That means a token representing a stock, for example, would carry the same rights as its traditional counterpart, including the ability to vote or receive dividends.

Transfer agents typically record ownership of securities in “book-entry” form using centralized databases. Securitize uses a black-chain based system for that instead, including BlackRock’s $2 billion tokenized money-market fund BUIDL, which primarily exists on Ethereum.

“We are proud to support NYSE in helping design the foundational transfer agent infrastructure,” Domingo said in a statement. “This is about building tokenization in a way that works within real market structure, with the protections, controls, and operational integrity.”

Last month, World Liberty Financial, the DeFi project backed by U.S. President Donald Trump, tapped Securitize for issuing tokens tied to the development of a luxury Maldivian resort.

In October, the firm backed by the world’s largest asset manager unveiled plans to list on the Nasdaq at a $1.25 billion valuation. Before the president was elected on a pro-crypto platform, BlackRock led a $47 million strategic funding round for Securitize in 2024