After lying dormant for more than five decades, the idea of a Texas Stock Exchange was revived a few years ago. Now set to launch in 2026, the TXSE aims to challenge the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq.

Three or four years ago, when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott first spoke with Jim Lee to gauge his interest in launching the Texas Stock Exchange and leading the public market as its CEO, the finance exec wrote it off. “I did not plan on doing it,” Lee says. “But here we are.”

Here he is, indeed. Since jumping on board, Lee has convinced BlackRock, Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, and an exclusive group of Texas CEOs—including Kelcy Warren, who owns a hefty 32.7 percent of the company’s non-diluted shares—to put $161 million toward the launch of the Texas Stock Exchange. (Lee owns 11.8 percent of non-diluted shares.) The SEC is reviewing its Form 1 registration—a process Lee and Abbott hope will result in the approval for TXSE’s launch.

The most well-funded national exchange to ever file a Form 1, the TXSE is expected to begin trading in early 2026, with listings coming at the end of 2026.

More than half a century later, though, Texas is ripe for a national exchange—one that is trying to topple a duopoly by going toe-to-toe with the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. One that has forced the hand of those legacy players to shift more assets to Dallas. One that is already garnering attention from local companies looking to launch an IPO in the next half-decade and publicly traded ones that could be in favor of dual listings on the TXSE.