Nasdaq: Tokenization Could Unlock Tens of Billions of Dollars in Collateral

< < Time is money. > > Benjamin Franklin did not foresee blockchain, but his formula summarizes what Adena Friedman came to say in Singapore. The CEO of Nasdaq believes that tokenization could unlock tens of billions of dollars tied up as collateral in the global financial system. This money is dormant because markets close in the evening and on weekends.

The American stock exchange operator has already made its moves, with the SEC's green light and $100 million invested in Kraken. It now needs to keep the machine running without ever shutting it down.
Key points of this article:

• Nasdaq has considered tokenization to unlock billions of dollars tied up in the global financial system.
• The SEC has approved tokenized shares allowing Nasdaq to extend its trading hours to nearly 23 hours a day.

Tokenization of Collateral or the Money That Sleeps on Wall Street

The scene takes place at TOKEN2049, the crypto gathering in Singapore. In an interview published by CNBC on October 9, Adena Friedman lays out a simple mechanism. Banks and funds deposit securities daily as collateral for their positions (the collateral, in jargon). Treasury bonds, stocks, and money market fund shares remain blocked for hours, sometimes days.

Her solution can be summed up in one sentence. < < If you tokenize all these instruments as well as the cash flows, the collateral becomes very fluid > >, she explains. Tokenization means representing an asset with a digital token that can be transferred on a blockchain, at any time and in a few minutes. The CEO mentions tens of billions of dollars of capital thus released, without detailing her calculations.

She dates the trigger for the adoption of the Genius Act, the American law that regulates stablecoins since July 2025. < < If we can tokenize money, then we can tokenize capital flows > >, she summarizes. Individuals, according to her, had < < ten years of advance > > over institutions in demanding continuously open markets.

Nasdaq and Tokenized Shares: A Already Busy Schedule

The speech is backed by concrete files. The SEC approved on March 18, 2026 the Nasdaq's request submitted in September 2025, which allows the settlement of certain securities in the form of tokens. The shares of the Russell 1000 and major index ETFs are concerned, traded in the same order book and at the same price as traditional securities.

Trading hours are also changing. Nasdaq aims for December 6, 2026 to open a night session and extend its trading day to nearly 23 hours, five days a week. The regulator's green light, granted in April, remains conditioned on the dissemination of prices during the night.

The plumbing is advancing at the same pace. The central depository DTCC has enlisted more than 50 institutions for its tokenization service expected in October. BlackRock, JPMorgan, and Goldman Sachs are among them. A Broadridge study published in July indicates the appetite, as 84% of the 200 North American executives surveyed rank tokenization among their strategic priorities.

Nasdaq Open 24/7: The Management Must Follow

That's the promise. The counterpoint comes from Friedman herself, who believes that the stock exchange infrastructure is < < the easiest part > > of the transition to 24/7. Financial institutions currently take advantage of closing hours to update their systems and recalculate their risks. Without a break, everything must run < < in real-time, all the time > >.

Nasdaq is betting on artificial intelligence to fill the gap. Its risk management platform already includes digital agents that currently limit themselves to recommendations, and that banks could one day let act alone. Another caveat, the CEO admits that not all assets are liquid enough to be traded day and night. And the pilot project validated in March does not change the settlement time, still set at one business day (T+1) because the conversion to tokens occurs only afterward.

Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Kraken, cites the case of a foreign company with $25 million in revenue seeking access to American markets through this means.

Tokenization is thus leaving the crypto lounges for the plumbing of finance, where Treasury bonds paved the way before stocks. The first large-scale test has a date. On December 6, American stocks will trade for the first time nearly 23 hours a day on Nasdaq, if the dissemination of night prices is ready in time.

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