New York Stock Exchange unexpectedly bets on cryptocurrency and prediction markets

Centralized, closed, and not operating on weekends, the New York Stock Exchange is a symbol of everything Bitcoin was created to disrupt, writes The Wall Street Journal. Nevertheless, the 233-year-old Wall Street giant has quietly and unexpectedly become a major player in the crypto industry.

Risky and legendary

NYSE’s bet on crypto assets is being made during a difficult period for the market: Bitcoin posted its worst first-quarter performance since 2018. It is currently trading around $75,000. At its peak in October 2025, amid expectations that Donald Trump’s return to power would usher in a “golden age” of digital assets, Bitcoin was valued at $126,273.

However, Bitcoin’s weakening has not frightened NYSE, nor other Wall Street exchanges. As Michael Blaugrund, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), NYSE’s parent company, told WSJ, it is вполне likely that blockchain will become key infrastructure for core exchange operations in the future — including trading, clearing, settlement, capital raising, and data distribution. This idea is also being promoted by ICE founder and CEO Jeffrey Sprecher, people close to him told the newspaper.

In January 2015, NYSE invested in Coinbase when Bitcoin was still a secondary asset trading at around $300, and earned $900 million after selling its stake in 2021.

In March, NYSE invested in crypto exchange OKX. As part of the deal, OKX will provide the exchange with access to real-time quotes for cryptocurrencies traded on its platform. NYSE also announced a partnership with Securitize to create a platform for tokenized securities with 24/7 trading and instant settlement, WSJ notes. This will allow investors to use stablecoins to finance transactions.

“The legendary exchange is undergoing its most sweeping — and likely most risky — transformation to date: using the distributed ledger technology underlying Bitcoin to reinvent the very system that took centuries to build,” WSJ notes.

Companions in misfortune

The exchange has also expanded its investments into the prediction market — a rapidly growing segment where users place bets on events across various domains, from politics to sports. In October 2025, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) agreed to invest up to $2 billion in Polymarket, raising its valuation to $9 billion.

This seemingly improbable deal was made possible largely due to similar negative experiences of the heads of NYSE and Polymarket, the publication reported. On November 13, 2024, FBI agents woke Polymarket founder Shayne Coplan at his Manhattan home and seized his phone as part of an investigation into whether the platform had allowed illegal trading for U.S. users.

Jeffrey Sprecher contacted Coplan after the Department of Justice closed the case. In an interview with CNBC cited by WSJ, he said Coplan “was falsely accused and subjected to an FBI search,” adding that he himself had experienced something similar several years earlier. “I’m old and bald. He’s young and has a full head of hair. I have a whole closet of ties. I think he has none. The exchange we’re standing on right now was founded in 1792. And he has the most promising fintech company of 2025,” Sprecher said from the NYSE trading floor.

See also: "Binance Delists Three Altcoin Spot Trading Pairs"

Share: