Ava Labs Exec Says NYSE Deal Ends the General Purpose Chain Era
John Nahas, chief business officer at Ava Labs, says the NYSE-affiliated tokenized securities platform using Avalanche for settlement marks "the end of the general purpose era" as institutions seek control and predictable costs.
Financial institutions want more control over how their blockchains run, and the NYSE-affiliated tokenized securities platform built on Avalanche shows it, according to John Nahas, chief business officer at Ava Labs. He made the comments in an interview published Nov. 10.
"I look at this as the end of the general purpose era,"
John Nahas, chief business officer at Ava Labs
The NYSE announced the move on Monday, Nov. 9, as we reported at the time. Avalanche is slated to be the exclusive core ledger for the platform. The platform is an alternative trading system (ATS): a regulated venue that matches buyers and sellers outside a traditional exchange order book.
Control and predictable costs
Nahas argued that capital markets need features open networks do not guarantee.
"Capital markets need reliable performance and predictable cost settlement, certainty and control over the network and its participants,"
John Nahas
He also said the industry tends to lead with the wrong thing: "Crypto always wants to put the crypto part front and center."
Dennis Lee, the NYSE's head of digital issuance, framed the choice in similar terms. The exchange will be "picking the right technology for each job," he said, and the ledger had to let it control who can take part and keep costs predictable.
The NYSE's existing matching technology handles trading. Avalanche covers the post-trade side, and the platform will support tokenized equities issued on multiple blockchains.
The NYSE and ICE spent more than a year on due diligence and evaluated Avalanche alongside several other networks. The deciding factors cited were speed, reliability, predictable costs and developer community. Launch is targeted for Q4 2026, pending regulatory approvals. AVAX rose roughly 5% to 8% after the announcement.
Corporate objections
Nahas also addressed pushback from companies over third-party tokenization of their shares. He attributed it partly to incumbents' lack of understanding, saying they view crypto as a speculative "wild west," and said he expected objectors to "come around." OKXICE, a separate venue proposed by OKX and ICE, listed 67 objecting companies as of Nov. 5, including Apple, Amazon, Meta and Tesla.
Asked about the "blue wave" in the House and Senate, Nahas said he remained optimistic.
What it means
Nahas is speaking for the company whose technology the NYSE selected. On public blockchains such as Ethereum, institutions can already restrict access to their own applications while the underlying networks stay open, though congestion can raise fees.
Avalanche's role is limited to settlement, the venue will accept equities issued on other chains, and the platform still needs regulatory approval before launch. The ledger is one of several infrastructure choices the NYSE has made for the venue, alongside Broadridge handling onchain shareholder voting.
