MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Nasdaq Chairman Tal Cohen said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) changing approach to crypto regulation is giving 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 back” after years of regulatory uncertainty.
“The gray zone 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 any pushback.”
Cohen described a broader shift within 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 worldwide, is investing in blockchain infrastructure, tokenization and artificial intelligence as part of that transition, Cohen said.
“We are adopting two trends,” he said. “Always-on-market infrastructure” and “convergence” between traditional financial rails and digital asset systems.
Cohen said interoperability between those systems remains one of the biggest hurdles for the industry. Companies do not want to operate separate infrastructures for traditional securities and tokenized assets, he said.
“Whether you’re in the existing world or the digital world, let me tell you, I’m going to bring it all together so you can get the benefits of both,” Cohen said.
He also signaled a more collaborative stance on the part of regulators.
“The SEC is much more constructive,” Cohen said. “It’s not even open-minded. It’s proactive.”
Cohen said tokenization could eventually 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 in motion,” he said.
Nasdaq is also testing artificial intelligence systems designed to simulate trading activity in a digital replica of its comparison engine. Cohen said the technology could help the exchange test market stress scenarios and improve software reliability as markets move toward extended trading hours.
