MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Nasdaq President Tal Cohen said the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) changing approach to crypto regulation gives market operators more room to experiment with blockchain-based infrastructure and tokenized assets.
Speaking at Consensus in Miami on Wednesday, Cohen said the industry now feels it can “build itself back up” after years of regulatory uncertainty.
“The gray area four years ago was a no-fly zone,” Cohen said. “The gray area now is that we can build. We can gain some scale. We can experiment without perhaps going back.”
Cohen described a broader shift in financial markets toward “always on” trading systems that operate nearly 24 hours a day and move money, securities and collateral faster than traditional infrastructure.
Nasdaq, which provides trading technology to more than 130 markets globally, is investing in blockchain infrastructure, tokenization and artificial intelligence as part of this transition, Cohen said.
“We embrace two trends,” he said. “Always on market infrastructure” and “convergence” between traditional financial rails and digital asset systems.
Cohen said interoperability between these systems remains one of the biggest hurdles for the industry. Companies don’t want to run separate infrastructures for traditional securities and tokenized assets, he said.
“Whether you’re in the existing world or you’re in the digital world, let me tell you, I bring it all together for you so you get the benefits of both,” Cohen said.
He also pointed to a more cooperative attitude from regulators.
“The SEC is much more constructive,” Cohen said. “It’s not even open-mindedness. It’s a proactivity.”
Cohen said tokenization could ultimately make assets easier to move, finance and trade while giving issuers better insight into shareholders.
“What it really does is take an asset and put it to work,” he said.
Nasdaq is also testing AI systems designed to simulate trading activity in a digital copy of its matching engine. Cohen said the technology could help the exchange test market stress scenarios and improve software reliability as markets move toward extended trading hours.
