Ava Labs president details NYSE’s year-long testing of Avalanche technology

The New York Stock Exchange’s parent company has spent the past year kicking the tires on Avalanche. Whether it actually buys the car is still an open question. Ava Labs President Charley Cooper revealed at the Avalanche Summit on September 16-17 that the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has been conducting a year-long evaluation of Avalanche’s technology. The focus: a potential on-chain Alternative Trading System, or ATS, designed to enable around-the-clock trading of tokenized stocks with instant settlement. What ICE is actually building The broad strokes of this initiative aren’t brand new. ICE first disclosed plans for the ATS back in February 2026, describing a system that would pair the NYSE’s Pillar matching engine with blockchain infrastructure to settle tokenized equities against stablecoins. Michael Blaugrund, ICE’s Vice President of Strategic Planning and former NYSE COO, added some color during the summit. He confirmed that Avalanche meets many of the requirements for such a platform. But he was careful to note that no formal selection has been made. Cooper, who was appointed Ava Labs president on August 18, described a close working relationship with ICE. His framing wa...