Blockchain.com and NYSE Group sign agreement to connect crypto users to tokenized securities

NYSE Group and Blockchain.com have signed a memorandum of understanding that could route the crypto platform’s more than 44 million confirmed accounts into NYSE’s planned round-the-clock tokenized securities venue. The deal is the latest sign that exchanges are racing to build distribution pipelines ahead of a tokenized asset market Citi Institute estimates could reach $5.5 trillion by 2030.

• Blockchain.com and NYSE Group signed the MOU on Wednesday, September 23, contingent on regulatory approval.
• Citi Institute projects tokenized financial assets could grow from about $17 billion today to $5.5 trillion by 2030 in its base case.
• ICE Data Services will distribute Blockchain.com’s crypto market data while Blockchain.com embeds NYSE and ICE feeds into its app for over 44 million accounts.

• $5.5T Citi Institute’s base-case tokenized asset market size by 2030
• $17B current size of the tokenized financial asset market, per Citi Institute
• 44M+ Blockchain.com confirmed accounts that could gain NYSE market access
• 120M OKX accounts worldwide tied to NYSE parent ICE’s March deal

Blockchain.com and NYSE Group announced the agreement on Wednesday, September 23, outlining a plan to give Blockchain.com’s global user base access to tokenized US exchange-listed equities and ETFs on NYSE’s previously announced digital alternative trading system, according to a joint press release. The arrangement is subject to any required regulatory approvals and does not guarantee that Blockchain.com’s customers will ultimately trade on the venue.

NYSE unveiled the digital platform in January, promising 24-hour trading of tokenized US shares and ETFs, fractional orders, immediate on-chain settlement and stablecoin-based funding. The venue is designed to support both tokenized versions of conventionally issued securities and assets issued directly in digital form, while preserving shareholder rights such as dividends and voting.

Blockchain.com and NYSE formalize distribution and data pact

The MOU establishes more than a future trading link. It also creates a two-way market-data relationship: ICE Data Services, NYSE’s affiliated data business, plans to distribute Blockchain.com’s crypto pricing and analytics to its institutional subscribers, giving traditional investors a new source of digital-asset intelligence.

Blockchain.com, in turn, intends to fold NYSE and ICE exchange data feeds into its own app, putting real-time stock information in front of more than 44 million confirmed accounts, some of it also feeding the company’s AI market assistant, June. Peter Smith, Executive Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of Blockchain.com, said the connection extends stock investing beyond geography.

“Tokenized stocks are one of the most impactful advancements in the modern financial landscape, and a key catalyst for greater economic freedom. People shouldn’t be limited in owning stocks based on where they happen to live or the brokerage and information they may or may not have access to. Connecting to the NYSE digital ATS will enable us to extend the opportunity to invest in these digital assets to tens of millions of Blockchain.com users around the world.”

Peter Smith, Executive Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder, Blockchain.com

Lynn Martin, President of NYSE Group, said the exchange sees Blockchain.com’s international reach as complementary to its tokenized securities platform once it launches.

OKX and securitize already anchor NYSE’s Tokenization stack

Blockchain.com is not the first crypto platform NYSE has lined up as a potential front end. Intercontinental Exchange, NYSE’s parent, struck a strategic agreement in March with OKX, an investment and strategic relationship that envisions giving OKX’s global customer base access to NYSE tokenized-equity markets. OKX says it serves more than 120 million accounts worldwide, more than double Blockchain.com’s confirmed account base, giving NYSE a second, larger pool of crypto-native users to court.

NYSE has separately named Securitize as the first digital transfer agent eligible to mint blockchain-native securities for issuers on the coming platform, addressing issuance and on-chain settlement while OKX and Blockchain.com handle distribution, according to reporting by CryptoSlate. That three-part structure, an infrastructure partner, a large-account crypto exchange and a globally distributed retail platform, gives NYSE parallel paths into both institutional and retail crypto users before the venue’s exchange framework is operational.

Blockchain.com already sells US equity exposure to crypto users through a separate partnership with Ondo Finance, giving eligible European customers access to more than 200 tokenized stocks and ETFs through its DeFi wallet. The NYSE connection would extend that model into a regulated exchange framework rather than a DeFi-native one.

Citi’s $5.5 trillion forecast rests on regulatory timing

Citi Institute’s base case puts the tokenized financial asset market at $5.5 trillion by 2030, up from roughly $17 billion today, with public equities and Treasuries driving most of the growth; its bull case reaches $8.2 trillion. Citi separately estimates that if 10% of US retail investors adopt on-chain products by decade’s end, demand for tokenized public equities alone could approach $2.6 trillion.

Neither the press release nor NYSE’s prior statements disclose when Blockchain.com users could actually connect to the venue, which securities would be listed, or which jurisdictions would qualify. Those gaps mean the MOU commits both companies to intent, not to a launch date.

The BlockWest read. The real contest here is not between exchanges but between distribution networks: NYSE is effectively outsourcing retail acquisition to OKX and Blockchain.com’s combined 164 million-plus accounts rather than building its own crypto-facing app. For allocators, the signal is that regulatory approval, not technology, is now the binding constraint on when tokenized equities reach crypto-native balance sheets at scale.

NYSE has not set a public date for its digital ATS to begin trading, and the Blockchain.com and OKX agreements remain non-binding until regulators clear the venue and each distribution partner’s access to it. Whether that approval arrives before rival platforms complete competing tokenization tie-ups is the open question NYSE, Blockchain.com and OKX have yet to answer.

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