When the "largest traditional financial exchange" invests in the "largest on-chain prediction market," "asset tokenization" enters the mainstream view

"Asset tokenization" is transitioning from a cutting-edge concept to a core force driving the next generation of financial market infrastructure.

According to Wall Street Insights, on October 7th, Eastern Time, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), announced a strategic investment of $2 billion in the prediction market Polymarket, which gives Polymarket a pre-investment valuation of approximately $8 billion.

Through this transaction, ICE not only acquires a financial stake in Polymarket but will also become its global distributor of event-driven data. The two parties will also collaborate on a new generation of "tokenization" projects.

As one of the most strictly regulated and mature centralized financial institutions globally, ICE's public embrace of tokenization sets a benchmark that will be closely watched and even emulated by the entire industry.

Previously, Wall Street Insights mentioned that the NYSE's main competitor, Nasdaq, is also accelerating deep reforms in the core market, planning to directly integrate tokenization and around-the-clock trading into the stock trading system.

The convergence of the two exchanges indicates that asset tokenization is rapidly transforming from a concept that has long lingered in the slogan and pilot stage into the underlying architecture of the real-world financial system.

For years, asset tokenization has been hailed as the next evolution of finance, with its promised faster settlement speeds, programmable compliance, and fragmented ownership of all assets from real estate to corporate bonds continually attracting market attention.

As Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, stated in his shareholder letter earlier this year:

Every stock, every bond, every fund, every asset can be tokenized.

However, apart from sporadic pilot projects, the vast majority of global financial assets are still traded on traditional ledgers.

The collaboration between ICE and Polymarket bets on a critical missing link: trustworthy data, rather than just software.

In the tokenization ecosystem, the value of a digital twin of an asset entirely depends on verifiable data that updates its status—whether it be price feedback, corporate events, or policy voting results.

Analysts believe that the blockchain-native prediction framework of Polymarket, combined with ICE's strong regulatory compliance capabilities and infrastructure, will establish a complete tokenized data market, rather than just isolated tokenized assets.

By anchoring event data and derivatives in a transparent, verifiable decentralized finance (DeFi) market, while ensuring distribution and compliance through a mature intermediary, this partnership is expected to meet the needs of both crypto-native participants and institutional end-users.

As Shayne Coplan, founder and CEO of Polymarket, stated in a statement:

To realize the potential of new technologies like tokenization, collaboration between mature market leaders and next-generation innovators is essential

"Competitor" The Perspective of Nasdaq

At the same time, Nasdaq, the main competitor of the New York Stock Exchange, is also accelerating its transformation blueprint.

Previously, Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman stated that the exchange plans to directly introduce innovations such as tokenization and round-the-clock trading into its core stock market, rather than limiting them to ancillary businesses.

However, in embracing digital assets, Nasdaq has taken a cautious "regulatory-first" approach. Friedman admitted that the lack of regulatory rules in the past was a major obstacle to its comprehensive layout.

She believes that only when the regulatory rules of traditional markets and crypto markets tend to converge can mainstream institutions like Nasdaq introduce compliant tokenized securities and crypto asset services for clients under the principle of "investor protection first." She observed that the trend of regulatory convergence is creating conditions for institutional entry.

Interestingly, Friedman also sees the value of emerging markets like Polymarket.

She believes that compared to the extremely complex options market, prediction markets are "easier to accept" due to their straightforward logic and low participation thresholds, allowing a broader group to engage in market price discovery.

This indirectly confirms the market potential aimed at a wider user base behind ICE's investment in Polymarket.

Risk Warning and Disclaimer

Markets are risky, and investments should be made with caution. This article does not constitute personal investment advice and does not take into account the specific investment goals, financial situation, or needs of individual users. Users should consider whether any opinions, views, or conclusions in this article align with their specific circumstances. Investing based on this is at one's own risk