Wall Street’s $114 Trillion Machine Is Going On-Chain

There was a time when Wall Street had to shut down every Wednesday because it couldn’t handle all the trading.

In 1962, the New York Stock Exchange handled about 3.8 million shares on an average day. By December 1968, that figure had nearly quadrupled to 14.9 million.

But the technology underneath the market hadn’t kept up.

When someone bought a stock, armies of back-office workers still had to process paper records. Physical stock certificates had to change hands. Runners carried securities and checks between firms across lower Manhattan.

As trading picked up, the paperwork piled higher. Certificates went missing, trades failed to settle, and brokerage firms fell hopelessly behind.

Eventually, the New York Stock Exchange did something that would be unimaginable today. It started closing on Wednesdays so Wall Street could catch up on its paperwork.

Think about that. One of the most important financial markets in the world had so much demand that the infrastructure underneath it couldn’t keep up. It desperately needed a better system.

Enter the Modern Stock Market Machine