Avalanche’s AVAX token surged as much as 10% on Monday, making it the top performer among the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. The rally followed the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) announcement that it would use Avalanche’s blockchain to settle trades on a new platform for trading tokenized stocks around the clock. By 03:22 p.m. UTC, AVAX had eased to $8.86, still up over 8% on the day, with a market cap of around $3.95 billion and $439.7 million in trading volume over the past day. The Avalanche blockchain’s total value locked (TVL) stood at $633 million, up 4% over the past 24 hours.
Dennis Lee, head of digital issuance at NYSE, highlighted the exchange’s focus on leveraging blockchain technology to expand its equity offerings. The deal reflects a broader trend among Wall Street firms to use blockchain for faster stock trading and extended market hours. The NYSE’s planned platform, which could launch before the end of 2026 pending regulatory approval, will allow investors to trade digital versions of stocks on various blockchains, with Avalanche recording and settling those trades.
John Nahas, chief business officer at Ava Labs, noted the rapid progress in supporting this infrastructure, calling it a significant step toward blockchain becoming foundational financial technology. The NYSE’s choice of Avalanche underscores the blockchain’s speed, reliability, cost predictability, and strong developer community. This move follows other financial firms’ investments in blockchain technology, including Nasdaq’s $100 million investment in Kraken’s parent company for tokenized stocks and the DTCC’s launch of a service for tokenizing traditional securities.
The NYSE deal also aligns with other efforts to bring traditional financial assets onto Avalanche. In July, Japanese fintech company Progmat moved over 452 billion yen worth of digital securities onto a dedicated Avalanche blockchain. Additionally, Aave Labs announced plans in September to launch a lending service on Avalanche, allowing financial firms to borrow Tether’s USAT stablecoin using tokenized assets as collateral.