NYSE CPO John Herrick said blockchain should be connected to existing rails like central clearing, following ICE’s OKX deal and the SEC’s move on tokenized stocks to redraw the market structure.
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- John Herrick, NYSE’s chief product officer, said at the New York Digital Asset Summit on March 26 that the exchange’s strategy focuses on “interoperability” of blockchain and existing market infrastructure, not wholesale replacement.
- Herrick emphasized that traditional mechanisms like central clearing hold irreplaceable risk management value, and predicted that the boundaries between traditional and tokenized assets could disappear within the next decade.
- The comments arrive weeks after NYSE parent company Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) made a strategic investment in cryptocurrency exchange OKX at a valuation of $25 billion, with plans to offer tokenized shares of NYSE to OKX’s 120 million users.
John Herrick, chief product officer at the New York Stock Exchange, told an audience at the New York Digital Asset Summit on March 26 that the world’s largest stock exchange does not intend to destroy existing market infrastructure to make way for blockchain, but instead intends to bring the two together. According to CoinDesk, Herrick said the NYSE is pursuing interoperability and exploring applications for tokenized assets within the current system, including real-time or near-real-time settlement and extended trading hours.
Position is a meaningful signal. The New York Stock Exchange is the most systemically important stock market on the planet, and Herrick’s framework (blockchain is layered on top of existing rails, rather than replacing them) reflects how the exchange is navigating the practical and regulatory constraints of being one of the most heavily scrutinized industries in the financial world. He noted that existing mechanisms such as central clearing still have irreplaceable risk management value and should be maintained even as exchanges move further towards tokenization. As previously reported by crypto.news, the NYSE is already building a 24/7 blockchain-based trading venue for tokenized stocks and ETFs, pending SEC approval. The platform is designed to combine the NYSE’s Pillar order matching engine with blockchain-based post-trade settlement funded by stablecoins.
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Herrick predicted that the boundaries between traditional and tokenized assets could gradually dissolve over the next decade. This is a timeline that aligns with the direction in which the organization’s momentum is visible. As detailed in a previous crypto.news article, Morgan Stanley plans to enable settlement of tokenized stocks on its internal alternative trading system in the second half of 2026, and Nasdaq has already applied to the SEC to support tokenized stocks on public exchanges.
ICE doubles down on investment in OKX
The strategic context for Herrick’s remarks is considerable. As covered in a previous crypto.news article, earlier this month, NYSE parent company ICE made a strategic investment in OKX, valuing the crypto exchange at $25 billion and securing a board seat. Under the partnership, OKX’s 120 million users will have access to ICE’s U.S. futures market and NYSE’s tokenized stocks, subject to regulatory approvals. “Our strategic relationship with OKX expands ICE’s global retail access to premier regulated markets and accelerates our plans to offer on-chain infrastructure and tokenized assets to U.S. investors,” Jeffrey C. Sprecher, ICE Chairman and CEO, said at the time of the announcement.
Market structure being redrawn
The tokenized stock market, with a market capitalization of approximately $800 million and monthly trading volume of $1.8 billion as of early 2026, is still in its infancy by Wall Street standards, but is growing rapidly. The regulatory environment has also changed. The SEC gave DTCC a three-year grace period to store tokenized securities in late 2025, effectively clearing the way for broker-dealers to connect to on-chain payments without abandoning their existing market structures.
Herrick’s interoperability-first philosophy, the idea of bridging old and new rather than replacing them, could be a strong model for how legacy exchanges absorb blockchain over the next decade.
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