Columbia professor says NYSE tokenization plan reads like ‘vaporware’
A Columbia Business School professor is raising concerns about the scant details in the New York Stock Exchange’s plan to build a blockchain for real-world asset tokenization, amid fears it could run against the ethos of crypto.
In an X post on Tuesday, Omid Malekan said NYSE’s announcement read like “vaporware” and that many questions remain unanswered, including which chain it would be built on, whether tokens would be permissioned, permissionless, or a combination of both and what the tokenomics and fee set-up would look like.
Vaporware refers to a product that has been announced and hyped but does not exist in a functional form, often lacking concrete details on how the product will be implemented.
NYSE and its parent, the Intercontinental Exchange, on Monday said the platform would enable 24/7 trading and instant settlement of stocks and exchange-traded funds with a blockchain post-trade system, including multi-chain support and custody features.
Malekan, however, argued that NYSE’s business model is rooted in a “highly centralized and oligopolistic architecture,” while adding in an opinion piece on Fortune that no amount of computer science and cryptography will undo that unless the NYSE decides to forego relationships with many of its partners.
Malekan likened NYSE’s move to US telecoms company AT&T in the late 1990s when it attempted to dominate the early internet, noting that pioneering one technological era does not mean they’ll lead the next.
“Tokenization represents a radically different architecture. It requires different skills and business models to be useful,” he said in the X post, concluding that he can’t see how NYSE’s tokenization-focused blockchain ends up a success.
Cointelegraph has contacted NYSE for more details about their tokenization plan.
NYSE’s tokenization plan is a game-changer, crypto execs say
Despite Malekan’s doubts, other industry observers have viewed NYSE’s tokenization plans as a net positive for the blockchain industry.
Related: X to roll out ‘Starterpacks’ featuring Bitcoin and crypto’s top posters
“On-chain trading of native tokenized equities coming from NYSE, no wrappers, no derivatives, no tokenized entitlements, bullish,” Carlos Domingo, the founder and CEO of RWA tokenization platform Securitize, said on Tuesday.
“It’s about time we put the best tech to use,” added Aptos Labs head of research Alexander Spiegelman.
ARK Invest tipped on Wednesday that the RWA tokenization market would rise from $22.2 billion to $11 trillion by 2030, fueled by more regulatory clarity and improved institutional-grade infrastructure.
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