Nasdaq's Tal Cohen Details $3-6 Billion Always-On Opportunity, Reveals Collateral Network as Next Frontier Beyond Tokenization
President outlines 24/7 trading vision, LeveL acquisition rationale, and Kraken partnership mechanics at Autonomous Future of Commerce Symposium, September 23, 2026
Nasdaq President Tal Cohen used a fireside chat at Autonomous's Future of Commerce Symposium to lay out the most detailed roadmap yet for the exchange operator's push into round-the-clock markets, tokenized equities, and collateral optimization, framing all of it under a single strategic banner the company calls Always-On. The session, moderated by Autonomous analyst Chinedu Bolu, covered everything from the mechanics of the Kraken partnership to why Nasdaq bought alternative trading system LeveL despite decades of griping about off-exchange volume. The most consequential disclosure may have been the least publicized: Nasdaq is quietly building a collateral orchestration layer on top of Calypso that could become a meaningful new revenue stream, though Cohen declined to size it given Reg FD constraints.
Collateral network emerges as the real unlock
The most novel piece of new information from the session centers on collateral management, an area Cohen suggested is underappreciated by investors relative to its potential. Nasdaq's Calypso platform, acquired as part of its trade management technology stack, has a core strength in collateral management that the company is now extending onto digital rails including Canton, following a test trade with Vanguard and Wellington published in July. But Cohen was explicit that the real opportunity lies one layer deeper. "Once you have unleashed that collateral, your clients need more sophisticated financing, margining and optimization tools to figure out where to take that collateral and what to do with it," he said. "So then you need to build a collateral network below that, an orchestration layer that allows them to say, hey, I freed up my collateral, there's more velocity and mobility with my collateral, what do I do with it? Where do I send it? How do I know that I'm optimizing it?" When pressed on whether this could be a meaningful driver over the next few years, Cohen demurred, noting "I don't think we've published anything around that because it's still early days, and this is a Reg FD event," but the framing suggests this is an emerging piece of the financial technology story that has not been fully reflected in sell-side models.
LeveL acquisition is a bigger strategic pivot than headlines suggested
Cohen offered the clearest rationale yet for Nasdaq's decision to acquire ATS LeveL, a move that initially seemed at odds with the exchange's long-standing complaints about off-exchange trading capturing more than 50% of daily volume. Rather than conceding the fight, Cohen framed the acquisition as playing offense on multiple fronts simultaneously. LeveL brings connectivity into both sell-side and buy-side clients along with an orchestration layer that Nasdaq can use to power Always-On and tokenization initiatives, add new execution protocols, and extend globally across the 130 markets where Nasdaq already sells market technology. "We can see ourselves doing a couple of things with it," Cohen said, describing a flywheel effect with the company's existing market tech offering. The deal remains under HSR review and has not closed, limiting how much detail Cohen could share, but the strategic logic extends well beyond simply owning another execution venue.
Nasdaq equity token differentiates on issuer sponsorship, not just technology
On tokenization, Cohen drew a sharp distinction between Nasdaq's approach and competing models, anchoring the design choice to the SEC's recently issued innovation exemption. That exemption requires issuer sponsorship, one-to-one backing that conveys full economic and governance rights, and openness to any qualified transfer agent. Cohen said Nasdaq built its equity token around proxy voting, corporate actions, and dividend rights specifically because "your rights and your protections travel with you," a feature he said many competing tokenization models lack. The strategic bet is that this issuer-centric design will matter more as the market matures, even though Cohen acknowledged corporate issuers remain early in understanding tokenization's value proposition compared with ETF issuers, who are "much more advanced" in appreciating the distribution and composability benefits. For large-cap Nasdaq 100 companies with tight spreads and deep liquidity, Cohen was candid that tokenization does not solve an obvious liquidity problem, and issuers are wary of fragmenting liquidity or losing visibility into who holds their stock. "They don't want fragmentation of their liquidity as a result of this," he said, adding that corporate issuers worry about losing direct engagement with their investor base if intermediating structures obscure ownership.
Kraken partnership functions as a template, not a one-off
Cohen provided new detail on how Nasdaq's investment in Kraken parent Payward is structured to work in practice, describing it as a bridge between permissioned and permissionless worlds rather than a binary choice. Under the arrangement, Kraken will distribute the Nasdaq equity token while also adopting Nasdaq's surveillance technology, a detail Cohen flagged as significant. "So not only are they taking Nasdaq equity token, they're taking surveillance, and we're working with them on a gateway between permissioned, permissionless," he said. More importantly, Cohen indicated this is designed as a replicable model rather than an exclusive arrangement, telling the audience Nasdaq can now approach other exchanges and platforms with the Kraken template in hand. The stated goal is avoiding a future where on-chain and off-chain markets exist as permanently separate tracks that require constant technical reconciliation.
Trade Management Services growth traced to 2021 capacity bet
Cohen attributed the strength in Nasdaq's Capital Markets Technology division, which grew revenue 14% and annual recurring revenue 17% in the second quarter, partly to a capacity planning decision made coming out of the pandemic. In 2021, Nasdaq told its data center providers and hyperscaler partners it needed significantly more power, compute, and space, a bet that elevated volumes and volatility were structural rather than transitory. "We were probably one of the few exchanges that said, volatility and elevated volumes are here to stay," Cohen said, noting the lead time meant the investment only began paying dividends in 2024 through 2026. He was direct that this creates a durable moat rather than merely a head start, arguing that once clients are embedded in Nasdaq's colocation and connectivity ecosystem, switching costs and network effects make displacement unlikely regardless of what capacity competitors eventually build.
Company sees itself well-positioned regardless of Rule 611 outcome
On the SEC's proposal to rescind Rule 611, the order protection rule underpinning Reg NMS, Cohen struck a notably unbothered tone, arguing Nasdaq wins under either outcome given its position as the largest single U.S. equity market and its newly acquired LeveL platform as an alternative growth vector. His larger concern was systemic: Nasdaq has asked the SEC how related elements, including best execution standards, access fees, and the SIP revenue formula, would be affected if the order protection rule disappears, warning against outcomes that reduce market depth or liquidity. "We have great markets, robust markets. That is the moral high ground for the U.S. right now is our capital markets, and we want to keep that," he said.
On event contracts, set to launch shortly around Nasdaq indices, Cohen argued the company avoids the customer acquisition problem that new entrants like Kalshi and Polymarket faced, since Nasdaq's six options exchanges already have every broker-dealer connected. He was careful to note contracts will stay confined to financial and economic outcomes, explicitly avoiding sports contracts given ongoing litigation between states and the federal government. Demand patterns remain unproven, however, with Cohen acknowledging "we're going to find out" what retail appetite looks like once the products go live.