Wall Street pushes tokenized stocks, but institutions aren’t eager to trade them
The post Wall Street pushes tokenized stocks, but institutions aren’t eager to trade them appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
Wall Street is racing toward tokenized equities and 24/7 trading, but many institutional investors are wary of the instant settlement model. Tokenization refers to representing traditional assets such as stocks on blockchain networks. In theory, the approach could modernize market infrastructure that dates back decades, allowing securities to move and settle instantly while potentially enabling 24/7 trading. That vision has gained momentum in recent months. Both ICE, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, and Nasdaq, have recently announced large partnerships with native crypto exchanges, aimed at bringing tokenized stocks to market. But for many institutional traders, the shift raises practical concerns about liquidity, financing and how markets function day to day. “Institutional investors generally do not like instant settlement,” said Reid Noch, vice president of U.S. equity market structure at TD Securities. While the technology could streamline the back end of markets, he said, forcing trades to settle immediately would create new frictions for professional investors. The current U.S. system settles stock trades one business day after execution, known as T+1 settlement. That delay allows brokers and trading firms to net positions and manage funding throughout the day. Instant settlement, by contrast, would require transactions to be fully funded before they occur. “No one really wants to be prefunded,” Noch said. If instant settlement became the standard across the market, trading firms would need to arrange financing throughout the day, potentially increasing costs and reducing liquidity at key moments. The impact could be especially visible during periods of heavy activity, such as the market close when large volumes of trades are executed simultaneously. Balance sheet constraints could make those periods more expensive for investors, spreading liquidity more unevenly throughout the trading day. Retail traders, however, may embrace tokenized markets more quickly. Many of the proposed benefits — such…
Filed under: News - @ March 14, 2026 4:17 pm