Avalanche’s AVAX leads crypto gains following NYSE tokenization deal

Avalanche’s AVAX token jumped as much as 10% on Monday, making it the top earner among the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) announced plans to use its blockchain to settle trades on a new platform for trading tokenized stocks around the clock.

AVAX later eased to $8.86, still up over 8% on the day, according to CoinGecko data as of 03:22 p.m. UTC. The token currently has a market cap of around $3.95 billion, with $439.7 million traded over the past day. The Avalanche blockchain boasts a total value locked (TVL) of $633 million, up 4% over the past 24 hours, according to DeFiLlama.

“At the NYSE, we’re looking at how blockchain technology can expand what we offer in equities, and we’re picking the right technology for each job,” Dennis Lee, the head of digital issuance at NYSE, said in an announcement.

The deal underscores a growing effort by Wall Street firms to use blockchain technology to make stock trading faster and allow investors to trade outside regular market hours. Typically, traditional US stock markets are open from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm EST on weekdays, with trades often taking at least one business day to settle.

The NYSE first announced plans for the platform in January. In September, Ava Labs revealed that the exchange had spent about a year testing Avalanche, but the blockchain’s final pick was not confirmed until Monday.