The New York Stock Exchange is imagining a world without a closing bell.

 

NYSE, through its parent company Intercontinental Exchange, is building a blockchain-powered platform that would allow stocks and ETFs to trade 24/7 in tokenized form. If regulators sign off, it would be one of the clearest signals yet that traditional finance is no longer just experimenting with crypto infrastructure, it is actively rebuilding around it.

 

The pitch is straightforward but far-reaching. Take real stocks and ETFs, represent them as blockchain tokens, and let them trade continuously. No market open. No market close. No waiting a day for settlement to finish in the background.

 

For an institution that has defined how markets work for more than 200 years, this is a radical shift.

 

This Is Not a Side Project

This is not NYSE dipping a toe into crypto.

 

ICE is designing a separate trading platform that merges NYSE’s core matching technology with blockchain-based settlement, custody, and clearing. Orders still look familiar, bids and asks meet in an order book, but what happens after execution is where things change.

 

Instead of the standard T+1 settlement cycle, ownership could move almost instantly onchain. Stablecoins are expected to handle funding, allowing trades to clear at any hour without relying on traditional banking rails. Investors may also be able to place dollar-based orders instead of buying whole shares, making fractional ownership the default rather than an add-on.

 

Structurally, it starts to resemble how crypto markets already operate, just wrapped around regulated assets.

 

Why Tokenized Stocks Are a Big Deal

Tokenized stocks are not new, but they have mostly lived at the edges of the financial system.

 

What changes here is credibility. When the NYSE moves toward tokenization, blockchain stops looking like an alternative system and starts looking like core infrastructure.

 

Tokenization allows equities and ETFs to trade globally, settle instantly, and operate without the friction built into traditional market plumbing. It removes time zone barriers. It compresses settlement risk. It turns stocks into programmable financial objects.

 

For investors who already trade crypto around the clock, the idea that equities shut down every afternoon feels increasingly outdated.

 

Crypto Trained the Market to Expect 24/7

This move did not come out of nowhere.

 

Crypto markets have normalized nonstop trading. Platforms like Robinhood and Coinbase are already pushing toward tokenized equities and extended hours. Asset managers are testing onchain settlement in private markets and fund structures.

 

Meanwhile, traditional clearing and settlement remain slow, expensive, and operationally complex. Blockchain promises efficiency, but only if institutions are willing to rethink the system rather than patch it.

 

NYSE’s entry into this space suggests legacy exchanges see the risk clearly. If liquidity, trading volume, and investor attention move onchain elsewhere, exchanges that stay static risk being left behind.

 

Regulation Decides Everything

For now, all of this lives in proposal form.

 

Tokenized stocks are still securities. That means U.S. securities laws apply, even if the assets settle on a blockchain. Continuous trading raises hard questions around surveillance, volatility controls, investor protections, and systemic risk. Stablecoins add another regulatory layer.

 

How regulators respond to an NYSE-backed tokenized market will likely shape how far and how fast tokenization spreads across public markets.

 

What Happens If This Actually Works

If this platform launches and gains traction, it could reshape how markets function.

 

Stocks that trade nonstop would change liquidity patterns and price discovery. Global participation would increase. Settlement could become faster, cheaper, and more transparent. Post-trade infrastructure might finally catch up with the digital age.

 

There are tradeoffs. Continuous markets can amplify volatility. Liquidity could fragment across venues. Retail investors may face more noise and fewer natural breaks.

 

Still, the direction feels unmistakable.

 

Crypto infrastructure is no longer sitting outside the financial system. It is being welded into it.

 

The NYSE is not turning stocks into memecoins. But it is signaling that the future of equities looks more onchain, more global, and far less dependent on a bell ringing at 4 p.m. Eastern.

 

The wall between crypto markets and traditional markets is thinning fast, and one of the oldest institutions in finance just acknowledged it.

Securitize Wants to Put Stocks On-Chain, and Wall Street Is Starting to Pay Attention

Securitize is making a move that, not long ago, would have sounded more theoretical than practical. The company plans to launch tokenized versions of stocks on-chain, pushing one of the most traditional parts of finance a little closer to blockchain infrastructure.

This is not about meme stocks or crypto-native experiments. Securitize operates squarely within the existing regulatory system. It has spent years working with asset managers, institutions, and regulators, quietly building the pipes needed to issue and manage digital versions of real-world assets.

That context matters. Putting stocks on-chain is not just a technical upgrade. It is an attempt to modernize how equities are issued, traded, and settled, without breaking the legal framework that keeps markets functioning.

 

What Putting Stocks On-Chain Really Looks Like

Tokenized stocks are essentially digital representations of real shares, recorded on a blockchain. These are not synthetic products that simply track prices. Each token is designed to correspond to an actual share, with ownership recognized in corporate and legal records.

In practice, that means the blockchain handles transfer and settlement, while traditional systems still govern shareholder rights, compliance, and corporate actions. It is less a replacement of existing markets and more a new layer running alongside them.

The appeal is straightforward. Blockchain settlement is faster. Transfers can happen in minutes rather than days. Tokens can also be divided into smaller pieces, which makes fractional ownership easier and potentially opens the door to a broader set of investors.

It is not revolutionary on its own, but it is meaningfully more efficient.

 

Why Securitize Is in a Position to Try This

Securitize has been focused on tokenization long before it became a popular narrative. The company already handles issuance, compliance, and transfer agent duties for tokenized funds and other financial products. Billions of dollars in assets have passed through its platform.

Because it operates with regulatory approval, Securitize has been able to work inside the system rather than around it. That makes its push into tokenized stocks feel less speculative and more like a logical next step.

If funds, bonds, and private assets can be tokenized, public equities were always going to be part of the conversation. The question was when, not if.

 

Why This Matters for Markets

The strongest case for tokenized equities comes down to efficiency.

Settlement in traditional stock markets still takes two days. Blockchain-based settlement happens much faster, which reduces counterparty risk and frees up capital.

There is also the question of access. Tokenized stocks can, in theory, trade around the clock and reach investors beyond traditional market hours and geographies, depending on regulatory constraints.

Fractional ownership is another piece. Smaller units of stock make it easier for investors to gain exposure without committing large amounts of capital.

And once equities live on-chain, they become programmable. Compliance checks, dividend payments, and other corporate actions can be automated in ways that legacy systems struggle to match.

None of this guarantees widespread adoption. But for institutions that spend heavily on operational complexity, the benefits are hard to ignore.

 

Regulation Still Sets the Pace

None of this works without regulators. Stocks are among the most tightly governed financial instruments in the world, and tokenization does not change that.

Securitize’s approach has been to treat tokenized stocks as securities first. Identity checks remain in place. Transfers are restricted based on jurisdiction and eligibility. Corporate governance follows existing rules.

That conservative stance may slow things down, but it also makes the product usable for institutions that cannot afford regulatory uncertainty.

Around the world, regulators are moving carefully. Some are experimenting with blockchain-based trading and settlement systems. Others are still figuring out how digital records fit into long-standing legal definitions of ownership.

The progress is uneven, but the direction is clear. Tokenization is no longer being dismissed. It is being studied.

 

Part of a Bigger Shift

Securitize’s move fits into a broader trend across financial markets. Tokenization is spreading from pilot projects to real issuance. Bonds, private credit, and structured products are increasingly being brought on-chain, often with the backing of established financial players.

Stocks are different. They are more visible and more symbolic. Bringing them on-chain would signal that blockchain technology has moved beyond niche use cases and into the core of global markets.

That shift, once it starts, tends to be difficult to unwind.

 

The Challenges Are Real

There are still open questions.

Liquidity is a big one. Tokenized stocks only matter if there are enough buyers and sellers to create healthy markets. That takes time.

Interoperability is another. Bridging blockchain systems with legacy infrastructure adds complexity and introduces new risks.

And then there is trust. Investors tend to be conservative with assets as central as stocks. New formats have to earn credibility slowly.

None of these challenges are deal breakers, but they help explain why this transition is likely to be gradual rather than dramatic.

 

A Quiet but Important Step

Securitize putting stocks on-chain is not a revolution. It is something more understated.

It suggests that the future of markets may be less about tearing down existing institutions and more about updating the infrastructure beneath them. Blockchain, in this framing, becomes a tool rather than a statement.

If that vision holds, tokenized stocks may eventually feel unremarkable. They will simply be another way equities move through the system, faster, cleaner, and mostly behind the scenes.

 

And that is often how real change shows up in finance.

 

Stay Connected

You can stay up to date on all News, Events, and Marketing of Rare Network, including Rare Evo: America’s Premier Blockchain Conference, happening  July 28th-31st, 2026 at The ARIA Resort & Casino, by following our socials on X, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

Bybit Expands Into Real-World Assets with Backed Finance Partnership for Tokenized

 

A new wave of tokenized equity products is reshaping how investors access global markets, and xStocks is leading the charge. Created by Backed Finance in partnership with Bybit and Mantle, xStocks allows tokenized versions of major U.S. company shares such as Nvidia (NVDA), Apple (AAPL), and MicroStrategy (MSTR) to be traded on-chain in a regulated, transparent, and globally accessible format.

Each xStock token is backed one-to-one by the underlying equity, which is held in custody by regulated third-party custodians. This approach ensures full backing while enabling the shares to move seamlessly within decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystems.

 

How xStocks Works

For every xStock minted, a real-world share of the corresponding company is held by the issuer in custody. These tokens can then be traded 24/7 on platforms such as Bybit and used within DeFi protocols for lending, borrowing, or liquidity provision.

Bybit supports deposits and withdrawals of xStocks through the Mantle Network, which acts as the blockchain infrastructure layer connecting centralized and decentralized platforms. Mantle’s low fees and high performance make it an ideal environment for on-chain trading of real-world assets.

This structure allows investors to gain global exposure to leading U.S. equities without the limitations of traditional brokerage systems or market hours. Tokenized stocks can also be composed into smart contracts, collateral systems, and decentralized trading strategies, creating new opportunities for both traders and developers.

 

Why Tokenized Stocks Matter

The launch of xStocks marks a major step toward convergence between traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance. By tokenizing shares of publicly traded companies and making them available on-chain, the project introduces a host of benefits:

• Global access: Investors from almost any region can gain exposure to U.S. stocks without relying on traditional brokerages.

• Composability: Tokenized stocks can integrate with DeFi platforms, enabling creative use cases such as yield farming or collateralized lending.

• Continuous trading: Unlike traditional markets, xStocks can trade around the clock, while still tracking underlying asset prices through custodial backing and oracle feeds.

• Fractional ownership: Smaller investors can gain access to high-value stocks through fractionalized token units.

This level of accessibility and flexibility represents a meaningful expansion of the global financial system into blockchain-based environments.

 

Key Partnerships Driving xStocks

• Backed Finance serves as the issuer and compliance manager for xStocks, ensuring that each token is fully backed by a corresponding equity share and held under regulated custody.

• Bybit, one of the world’s top crypto exchanges, provides the liquidity, infrastructure, and user base to make tokenized stock trading seamless.

• Mantle Network delivers the blockchain infrastructure that underpins the system, offering a modular Layer 2 framework with high throughput and low transaction costs.

Together, these partners form a complete pipeline for bringing traditional assets onto the blockchain. Shares are securely held, tokenized, and then made accessible through regulated on-chain channels.

 

Use Cases and Early Listings

The initial lineup for xStocks includes a mix of technology and finance leaders such as Nvidia, Apple, Tesla, Coinbase, and MicroStrategy. Each stock is represented by a corresponding xStock token (for example, NV DAX for Nvidia and MSTRX for MicroStrategy).

Holders can store these tokens in self-custody wallets, trade them directly on Bybit, or integrate them into DeFi applications across the Mantle ecosystem. Over time, more equities and potentially ETFs may be added to expand the offering.

 

Regulatory and Market Considerations

While the concept is groundbreaking, tokenized securities carry some caveats:

• No voting or dividend rights: Token holders typically gain economic exposure but not shareholder privileges like voting or direct dividend collection.

• Jurisdictional restrictions: Residents of certain countries, including the United States, may be restricted from purchasing or holding xStocks until further licensing is obtained.

• Price variance risk: During off-market hours, token prices can deviate from the underlying asset price, creating both arbitrage opportunities and liquidity risks.

• Regulatory evolution: The treatment of tokenized stocks varies across jurisdictions, and projects like xStocks will likely face ongoing regulatory review as adoption grows.

Even with these considerations, the model represents a significant advancement toward a future where on-chain representations of real-world assets can coexist with traditional financial infrastructure.

 

A New Era for Real-World Assets

Tokenization of assets like equities, bonds, and commodities has long been viewed as the next frontier for blockchain adoption. Projects such as xStocks demonstrate that this vision is now moving from concept to implementation.

By combining regulatory compliance, on-chain transparency, and cross-border accessibility, xStocks delivers a clear example of how tokenized finance could evolve. The initiative also highlights the growing appetite for real-world assets (RWAs) among DeFi participants, who are increasingly seeking stable, yield-bearing alternatives to purely speculative tokens.

 

Final Thoughts

The xStocks launch represents more than a new trading product. It is part of a broader transformation of financial infrastructure — one that connects traditional equity markets to the programmable, borderless nature of blockchain.

Bybit, Mantle, and Backed Finance are positioning themselves at the intersection of these two worlds. If xStocks succeeds, it could pave the way for widespread tokenization of major assets, potentially redefining how investors trade, store, and leverage real-world value in the digital age.

 

As more institutions explore on-chain settlement, custodial bridges, and tokenized asset offerings, xStocks may be remembered as one of the early milestones that made Wall Street truly interoperable with Web3.

 

Stay Connected

You can stay up to date on all News, Events, and Marketing of Rare Network, including Rare Evo: America’s Premier Blockchain Conference, happening  July 28th-31st, 2026 at The ARIA Resort & Casino, by following our socials on X, LinkedIn, and YouTube.