NYSE is going to implement '7×24h stock trading', but it may be completely different from what you think of as 'stocks on the blockchain'.
Recently, the 'tokenized securities + 24-hour trading' launched by NYSE / ICE has been interpreted by many as 'stocks are finally going to be on the blockchain'.
But my personal judgment is: this is actually very different from the 'stocks on the blockchain' in the crypto context.
Let’s start with the conclusion:
It is essentially still a centralized trading system (more like CEX), not DeFi, nor is it stock tokenization.
A more reasonable way to understand this product is:
Stocks are pledged or custodied 1:1 in the traditional system, and then 'born' as tradable certificates in a new, compliant trading system for 24-hour continuous trading.
The role of blockchain is not to match the market, but to store transaction results and settlement proofs.
In other words, matching occurs in centralized systems, price formation is not on-chain, what is recorded on-chain is 'the fact after the transaction is completed', not the transaction process. This is crucial; it directly determines that this system is not a decentralized market.
So why do this?
The core reason lies not in crypto, but in the structural problems of the traditional stock market.
First, trading time is not continuous.
The real world operates 24 hours, but the stock market does not.
A lot of important information occurs during market closures, which can only be priced in one go at the next opening with a 'gap', artificially amplifying volatility.
Second, global capital is fragmented by time zones.
Asian and European funds have almost no effective channels for price discovery during U.S. stock market closures.
The significance of 24-hour trading is that price discovery is smoother, rather than having high liquidity all day.
Third, settlement efficiency and risk control.
On-chain recording of transaction results can shorten the clearing cycle and reduce counterparty risk.
This is a real improvement for institutions, not conceptual innovation.
So how are stock dividends and earnings calculated?
Dividends, voting rights, and corporate actions still come from the original stock itself.
You are only trading 'trading forms', not a new asset class.
In other words:
No new stocks have been created
No dilution of rights
Economic returns are still 100% pegged to real stocks
Let's talk about price fluctuations and opportunities during non-trading hours.
This is the part of the system that can be easily overvalued and undervalued.
Opportunities lie in:
Major news over the weekend or at night is no longer compressed into the moment when the market opens
Prices can reflect information in advance
Hedging and rebalancing have more time windows
The risks are also obvious:
Liquidity is thinner
Volatility may be greater
More suitable for professional traders, not emotional trading
It is not stock tokenization:
Stocks do not inherently exist on-chain
There are no real-time prices on-chain
Therefore, there is no need for an oracle
It is not DeFi, cannot be permissionless combinations, cannot do atomic arbitrage, and is almost impossible to directly create on-chain derivatives
So in the short term, you won't see a large number of DeFi products built around it; this is structurally determined.
In summary, the essence of this product is:
Under the premise of not changing the power structure and not touching regulatory boundaries,
Adding 'time flexibility' and 'settlement efficiency' to the traditional stock market.
Its significance for crypto is not 'decentralization wins', but a more realistic signal that traditional finance is selectively using blockchain, only the part they need.
Understanding this point can help avoid being misled by narratives like 'stocks on-chain' or 'TradFi being disrupted'.