Nasdaq (NDAQ) Autonomous 2026 Future of Commerce Symposium summary

Strategic vision and market structure

• Focus on building an always-on trading environment to increase investor access and choice, with 23/5 equity trading launching in December and tokenization of equities planned for early 2027.

• Expansion includes new event contracts, acquisition of LeveL, and leveraging partnerships to enhance execution channels and global reach.

• Off-exchange trading remains over 50% of daily volume, but innovations aim to shift more activity on-exchange and unlock latent demand.

• Regulatory adaptability is emphasized, with confidence in thriving regardless of changes to SEC rules like the Order Protection Rule.

• The always-on opportunity is estimated at $3–6 billion by 2030, spanning trading, tokenization, asset servicing, data, and fintech services.

Tokenization and partnerships

• Nasdaq Equity Token is issuer-sponsored, fully backed, and designed to maintain investor rights and protections, differentiating it from other models.

• Partnership with Kraken aims to bridge permissioned and permissionless systems, distributing the equity token and integrating surveillance solutions.

• The model with Kraken serves as a template for global partnerships, promoting standardization and interoperability between regulated markets and blockchain networks.

• Issuer engagement with tokenization is in early stages, with ETF issuers more advanced than corporates, who seek solutions for operational pain points.

• Emphasis on enhancing issuer-investor connectivity and addressing concerns about liquidity fragmentation and regulatory clarity.

Financial technology and growth drivers

• Capital Markets Technology division saw 14% revenue and 17% ARR growth in Q2, driven by early capacity planning and new services for always-on markets.

• Trade management services benefit from increased demand for connectivity and co-location, with a robust ecosystem that is difficult for competitors to replicate.

• Calypso platform’s collateral management module is being connected to digital rails, enabling real-time collateral mobility and scenario analysis.

• Plans to build a collateral network and orchestration layer to optimize collateral use, unlocking new business opportunities.

• Asset servicing in the digital world will leverage partnerships, focusing on tokenization agent roles rather than custody.