According to BlockBeats, on September 17th, SEC Commissioner Hester M. Peirce, speaking at a roundtable discussion on 24-hour trading in US stocks, pointed out that extended trading hours are taking shape in the form of 23-hour sessions and a five-day trading week. Although this has existed for years on some ATSs (Alternative Trading Systems), extended trading hours still account for less than 1% of total stock trading volume on the NMS (National Regulatory Market), and are highly concentrated on a small number of stocks. Over the past two years, both new entrants and traditional trading platforms have actively expanded their operating hours to respond to domestic and international demand. In terms of infrastructure, the NSCC switched its clearing operations to a 24/7 model in June, operating continuously from 8 PM Sunday to 8 PM Friday; the SEC approved an extension of SIP (Securities Information Processor) operating hours, with the new schedule launching on December 6th; the Commission also approved a market-wide price limit scheme during extended trading hours, and trading venues have established standards for handling corporate actions.

Peirce acknowledged that many market participants have mixed feelings about this shift, viewing it as an inevitable but not entirely welcome complication, worrying about thinner overnight order books, wider spreads, increased price volatility, and the compression of back-office operations, batch processing cycles, and critical IT maintenance to just one hour per night.

Peirce points out that beyond operational issues, there are more fundamental human concerns, such as sleep. Extended trading hours amplify concerns about data source disruptions at 3 a.m. or social media rumors depressing stock prices while headquarters are asleep. The US market is not pioneering new territory; it can learn from the foreign exchange market (which has been operating 24/7 for decades), the crypto market (which never sleeps), and the overnight index options and futures markets (generally 23/5). A South Korean trading platform also announced plans to extend trading hours last week.

Peirce raised a series of questions: What lessons can markets with continuous trading experience offer for the US stock market regarding liquidity, market making, manipulation, and cybersecurity risks? How can brokers fulfill their best execution obligations when liquidity is dispersed and spreads are wide? For asset managers, is choosing not to trade overnight still an acceptable fiduciary decision when liquidity and execution costs are unfavorable? Do issuers need to change their behavior? Currently, issuers typically file documents and release material information before and after the core trading session, while EDGAR documents filed after 5:30 p.m. are usually processed on the next business day. Should the SEC modify its system to ensure timely dissemination of corporate actions and material information overnight? Should the Commission provide guidance or relief to alleviate the burden of extended trading on issuers, especially smaller issuers?

According to BlockBeats, on September 17, based on BIT (bit.com) market data, Securitize (SECZ), a US-listed digital asset tokenization platform, surged over 20% intraday, and at one point rose over 24%, following the SEC's approval of limited trading of tokenized stocks on on-chain platforms. The stock is currently trading at $9.36, with a market capitalization of $1.528 billion.

Securitize is a licensed tokenization infrastructure company in the United States, founded in 2017 and scheduled to go public via SPAC in July 2026. It registers fund units, private placement credits, and stocks as on-chain securities and provides a full range of services including transfer agency, brokerage, ATS trading, and fund administration. Partners include BlackRock (for its tokenized money market fund BUIDL), Apollo, and KKR, with BlackRock being a major client and investor. Securitize's approach involves on-chaining institutional-grade, genuine securities with shareholder rights, rather than synthetic stock tokens.

For more information, see "Interpreting the SEC's Approval of Limited On-Chain Trading of Tokenized Stocks: A Cold Thing for 'Synthetic US Stock Tokens,' but a Milestone for 'Real Tokenized US Stocks.'"

According to BlockBeats, on September 17th, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange returned to the social media platform X after a two-year hiatus. He posted "I'm back," accompanied by a photo of himself standing on an Australian street, pointing to his mural. His wife, Stella, stated that this is his official account back, and more news will follow next week.

Julian Assange was born in Australia in 1971. He founded WikiLeaks in 2006 and released records of the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as US diplomatic cables, around 2010. He subsequently engaged in a protracted legal battle with the US and UK. He initially sought refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for seven years before being arrested by the UK in 2019 and detained in Belmarsh Prison. In June 2024, he reached a plea agreement with the US Department of Justice, exchanging a count of conspiracy to obtain and disclose defense information for the time he had already served, allowing him to return to Australia. He remained largely out of the public eye for the next two years.

After Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, and others cut off WikiLeaks' fiat currency access in late 2010, Assange turned to Bitcoin for payments, becoming one of the first large organizations to use BTC as a censorship-resistant settlement tool. He subsequently spoke publicly about cryptocurrency on numerous occasions, viewing it as infrastructure for bypassing bank blockades and protecting information sources and fund flows. WikiLeaks has also long accepted donations in Bitcoin and other forms of payment.