Wall Street's Secret Blockchain Platform Is Coming for Your Dividends and It's Using Stablecoins to Do It

Source: CryptoNewsNet Original Title: Wall Street’s secret blockchain platform is coming for your dividends and it’s using stablecoins to do it Original Link: NYSE said it is developing a platform for trading and on-chain settlement of tokenized securities, and will seek regulatory approvals for a proposed new NYSE venue powered by that infrastructure.

According to the owners, ICE, the system is designed to support 24/7 operations, instant settlement, orders sized in dollar amounts, and stablecoin-based funding. It combines NYSE’s Pillar matching engine with blockchain-based post-trade systems that have the capability to support multiple chains for settlement and custody.

ICE did not name which blockchains would be used. The company also framed the venue and its features as contingent on regulatory approvals.

The scope ICE described is U.S.-listed equities and ETFs, including fractional share trading. It said tokenized shares could be fungible with traditionally issued securities or natively issued as digital securities.

ICE said tokenized shareholders would retain traditional dividends and governance rights. It also said distribution is intended to follow “non-discriminatory access” for qualified broker-dealers.

The forward-looking market-structure implication sits less in the token wrapper and more in the decision to pair continuous trading with immediate settlement.

Under that design, the binding constraint shifts from matching orders during a session to moving money and collateral across time zones and outside banking hours (inference based on settlement and operating-hour constraints described by regulators and ICE).

U.S. markets only fairly recently completed the move from T+2 to T+1 settlement, effective May 28, 2024, a project the SEC tied to updated rules for clearing agencies and broker-dealers. FINRA has also issued reminders that even a one-day compression requires coordinated changes in trade reporting and post-trade workflows.

Always-on Trading Raises Settlement and Funding Demands

Pressure for longer trading windows is also building in listed equities, with Nasdaq publicly described as seeking SEC approval for a 23-hour, five-day trading schedule. ICE’s proposal extends the concept by pairing always-available trading with a settlement posture it labeled “instant.”

That approach would require market participants to pre-position cash, credit lines, or eligible on-chain funding at all times (inference grounded in the “instant settlement” and 24/7 features, and the post-trade funding constraints reflected in the T+1 migration).

ICE made the funding and collateral angle explicit, describing the tokenized securities platform as one component of a broader digital strategy. That strategy also includes preparing clearing infrastructure for 24/7 trading and potential integration of tokenized collateral.

ICE said it is working with banks including BNY and Citi to support tokenized deposits across ICE’s clearinghouses. It said the goal is to help clearing members transfer and manage money outside traditional banking hours, meet margin obligations, and accommodate funding requirements across jurisdictions and time zones.

That framing aligns with DTCC’s push around tokenized collateral. DTCC has described collateral mobility as the “killer app” for institutional blockchain use, according to its announcement of a tokenized real-time collateral management platform.

A near-term data point for how quickly tokenized cash-equivalents can scale sits in tokenized U.S. Treasuries. RWA.xyz displays the total value of $9.33 billion as of press time.

ICE’s emphasis on tokenized deposits and collateral integration creates a path where similar assets become operational inputs for brokerage margin and clearinghouse workflows. That scenario is an inference grounded in ICE’s stated clearing strategy and DTCC’s collateral thesis, including the focus on mobility.