The world of Non-fungible tokens just got a lot more exciting; the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is making moves to cement its company as an online marketplace for NFTs.
Institutional Adoption
On February 10, 2022, the New York Stock Exchange applied for trademark licenses with the US Patent and Trademark Office to launch a cryptocurrency, NFT, and metaverse-related products. Admittedly, the NYSE is yet to publicly state that they have immediate plans to launch such virtual products; the licenses they seek will grant the stock exchange the right to cultivate a digital marketplace that’ll operate in tandem with its existing exchange.
There are signs that the NYSE may also be seeking approval to launch its cryptocurrency. If this happens, it’ll be huge for the entire industry, but nobody knows how the NYSE or similar large institutions will approach launching and managing their tokens.
According to a statement from the NYSE, “The NYSE has no immediate plans to launch cryptocurrency or NFT trading… The NYSE regularly considers new products and their impact on our trademarks and protects our intellectual property rights accordingly.” The NYSE claims they are not entering the digital space immediately; they are most likely getting their affairs, human resources, and finances to ensure that they enter this space the right way. When a company becomes as vast and successful as this company is, every move has to be calculated because investors, regulators, and competitors are all paying attention to every action taken.
Amazingly, this isn’t the NYSE’s first foray into the world of NFTs; in 2021, they commissioned a myriad of NFTs celebrating the IPO of notable companies such as Unity, DoorDash, Spotify, Snowflake, and Roblox.
Competition for NFT Marketplaces
If you ask anybody that follows the NFT and Crypto world with a keen eye, they’d tell you that such a move from a big player like the NYSE was only a matter of time. Currently, OpenSea is the largest NFT marketplace, and its growth over the last nine months has been mind-boggling.
As of July 2021, OpenSea was valued at $1.5 Billion, a respectable figure and way higher than anybody in this space. In February 2022, that same company is now valued at over $13 Billion; we’re sure established players like the NYSE, Nasdaq, LSE, and other major stock exchanges have noticed movements in the Crypto/NFT space, and over the next few months we can expect more competition from established players.
What does this mean for the future of NFTs?
Pushback from traditional players on Wall Street is at an all-time low, and exchanges worldwide are in a race to solidify their business as the go-to for digital investments. In October 2021, the NYSE began allowing investors to get in on the Bitcoin action with limited price exposure; that’s not all; ProShares launched their Bitcoin-tied exchange-traded fund (ETF) futures on the NYSE. The future looks exciting, and it’ll be interesting to see how new and existing NFT marketplaces stake their claims to such a dynamic market.
