Crypto exchange Blockchain.com has signed a memorandum of understanding with NYSE Group to offer tokenized U.S. stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to its users through the New York Stock Exchange's planned 24/7 digital trading venue, the companies said Wednesday in a joint announcement. The companies framed the agreement as a partnership to explore global 24/7/365 trading of tokenized securities.

The arrangement is subject to any required regulatory approvals, and the NYSE platform has yet to launch. Neither company disclosed a launch date or financial terms, leaving regulatory approval and the venue's debut as the key milestones to watch.

The deal lets Blockchain.com bring Wall Street assets into its app and keep them open around the clock, while giving the NYSE a pipeline to crypto-native investors. Founded in 2011, Blockchain.com says it has more than 44 million confirmed accounts across more than 70 jurisdictions.

"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," Blockchain.com CEO and co-founder Peter Smith said. The remarks put access — who can own stocks and through what kind of platform — at the center of the partnership.

Tokenized stocks are blockchain-based tokens representing shares of listed companies. Backers say they enable fractional ownership, trading outside traditional market and faster settlement. For a crypto platform's users, that structure points to holding tokenized equities alongside digital assets in a single app — the access model Smith described.

The NYSE, which has been owned by Intercontinental Exchange since 2013 and is the world's largest stock exchange by the market value of its listed companies, announced in January that it is building the venue as a digital alternative trading system, or ATS. An ATS is a regulated marketplace that operates outside a traditional exchange, and the NYSE's planned venue promises 24/7 trading and instant on-chain settlement.

The pact also covers data. ICE Data Services plans to distribute Blockchain.com's crypto market data to its subscribers, while Blockchain.com will add certain NYSE and ICE feeds to its app — extending the partnership beyond tokenized trading and putting each side's market data in front of the other's audience.

The timing tracks with a shift in Washington. Last week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission unveiled an "innovation exemption" letting qualifying venues trade tokenized U.S. stocks on public blockchains without registering as exchanges. The move came days after the Clarity Act — legislation that would have codified this and other crypto-related activity into law — stalled in the Senate.

Blockchain.com, which confidentially filed for a U.S. IPO in May, faces growing competition. Coinbase launched tokenized stocks on Base, its Ethereum layer-2 network, for non-U.S. users in August, and other crypto venues are racing to launch their own tokenized stock offerings for both U.S. and non-U.S. users.