- The New York Stock Exchange announced on Monday that it had minted six NFTs.
- The NFTs represent the first trades of several companies that recently went public on the NYSE.
- The crypto art pieces are not currently up for sale, but will be gifted to the companies, a source told Insider.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) announced on Monday that it was getting into crypto art by minting its own digital collectibles designed to commemorate the first public trade of six stocks.
The NYSE is not only the largest stock exchange in the world, but it is also the first to get into crypto art. The collectibles will represent the first trades of Spotify, Snowflake, Unity, DoorDash, Roblox, and Coupang. NYSE said it plans to launch more first-trade collectibles in the future.
The digital collectibles will operate as non-fungible tokens or NFTs. NFTs are digital collectible tokens that allow the buyer to connect their name directly to the creator via the blockchain.
NFTs have boomed in recent months. In February, one crypto art piece sold for nearly $70 million. Since, celebrities and public figures from Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to singer Shawn Mendes have gotten in on the trend, which has brought in millions for opportunistic creators and resellers of the pieces.
While the NYSE appears to be getting in on the NFT trend, the exchange's tokens are not up for sale. The NFTs are housed on Crypto.com, a less than month-old NFT trading platform that has already launched crypto art sales for several celebrities including Snoop Dogg and Boy George.
A source familiar with the matter told Insider NYSE does not plan to sell its NFTs, but has already gifted them to the respective companies. The NYSE also plans to mint future NFTs and gift those to the memorialized companies as well, according to the source.
The NFTs for each company feature a short clip containing information about the first trade, including the sale price, date, and a string of numbers representing the first trade quote code.
Stacey Cunningham, the President of NYSE, said the NFTs will help commemorate the very first moments a company joins NYSE by highlighting the data from a company's very first trade.
"NYSE technology is processing over 350 billion order, quote and trade messages across our markets on our busiest days, more than any other exchange in the world," Cunningham said in a LinkedIn post. "Only one of those messages marks the NYSE First Trade: the exact moment a company became public, creating an opportunity for others to share in their success."