Exchange giant Nasdaq takes on the blockchain! Officially applying for tokenized securities trading, reshaping the rules of the game on Wall Street

Nasdaq has applied to the SEC for a rule change to enable tokenized securities trading on its exchange. The proposal aims to integrate blockchain technology into the post-trade clearing and settlement process, managed by the Depository Trust Company (DTC), while maintaining existing trading and compliance frameworks.

Core Innovation: Leveraging blockchain to upgrade traditional settlement, enabling optional tokenized settlement alongside conventional methods, improving efficiency and reducing risk for institutional clients.
Regulatory Context: The move aligns with recent shifts in U.S. regulatory stance, including a joint SEC-CFTC statement supporting regulated crypto asset trading.
Advantages of Tokenization: Potential benefits include 24/7 trading, faster T+0 settlement, lower investment barriers via fractionalization, and compatibility with DeFi applications.
Challenges and Realities: Tokenization may offer limited practical value for retail investors due to existing zero-commission trading and efficient T+1 settlement. Risks include smart contract vulnerabilities, price deviations from underlying assets, and regulatory gray areas.
Strategic Motivation: Nasdaq aims to consolidate its market dominance by modernizing infrastructure, serving institutional needs, and preventing the rise of unregulated tokenized ecosystems.

By JAE, PANews

Traditional US financial markets are rapidly transitioning to blockchain. On September 6, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) proposed 24/7 trading in traditional financial markets. Just two days later, Nasdaq took decisive action, announcing it had submitted a rule change application to the SEC to facilitate tokenized securities trading on its market. Blockchain technology, as a tool to enhance efficiency and transparency, will be integrated into Nasdaq's financial infrastructure.

The core lies in the post-transaction clearing and settlement process

The core objective of Nasdaq's tokenized securities proposal is to allow its member companies and investors to trade stocks and ETPs in tokenized form within the market. At the same time, Nasdaq, adhering to its established compliance standards, requires that tokenized shares carry the same rights as the underlying securities, including the same CUSIP (U.S. Securities Identification Number) and shareholder rights, such as dividends and voting rights.

The innovation of Nasdaq's tokenized securities proposal lies in the post-trade clearing and settlement process. Under its operational mechanism, the trade itself still occurs within the market, subject to existing order execution and matching rules. Once the trade is completed, participants can choose to settle in traditional digital form or in tokenized form. If tokenization is chosen, the back-end clearing and settlement work will be handled by the Depository Trust Company (DTC), the core clearing organization of the TradFi system, which is responsible for recording ownership as a blockchain-based token.

Nasdaq is leveraging blockchain technology to empower its DTC system, upgrading its existing system. This operational model reveals a defensive strategy: leveraging blockchain technology to upgrade its traditional centralized system, creating a more technologically advanced and thoroughly controlled "trading market," thereby proactively addressing challenges to its dominant position posed by the crypto-native tokenized stock market. By incorporating tokenized assets, Nasdaq will continue to consolidate its core position in the capital markets.

In fact, Nasdaq has been researching and investing in blockchain for 10 years. It has been using blockchain technology since 2015, and has successively developed the blockchain-based equity trading platform Linq, and jointly launched the blockchain payment processing platform ChainCore with Citi; in 2018, Nasdaq used Azure blockchain technology to launch the Nasdaq Financial Framework system, providing blockchain services to more than 100 market operators worldwide; in 2021, it launched the "Market Service Platform" to help customers issue tokenized assets.

Subtle shift in regulatory attitudes

Nasdaq's tokenized securities proposal comes at a critical time when US regulatory stances are undergoing a significant shift. Under former Chairman Gary Gensler, the SEC favored classifying most cryptocurrencies as securities, prioritizing strict regulatory enforcement and sparking widespread concerns within the industry about overregulation.

However, on September 2, 2025, the SEC and CFTC issued a joint statement stating that under current law, regulated exchanges are permitted to offer trading in some crypto asset spot products. This joint statement, part of the SEC's "Project Crypto" and the CFTC's "Crypto Sprint," aims to provide a clear path for compliant blockchain innovation and encourage the development of fintech in the United States.

Nasdaq's choice to submit the application at this time is both a response to changes in regulatory attitudes and a proactive response to the impact of on-chain transactions in line with technological advances.

As a highly regulated traditional financial institution, Nasdaq's tokenized securities proposal also provides regulators with an ideal "testing ground" to prove that blockchain technology can be integrated into the existing system in a compliant and secure manner.

The “Double-Sided” Effect of Tokenization

Tokenization advocates believe that blockchain technology will trigger an efficiency revolution in the TradFi market. Its core advantages include: 1) All-weather trading: Tokenized securities can be traded 24/7 without interruption, breaking away from the regular time constraints of traditional exchanges and allowing investors to react immediately to any news; 2) Higher clearing and settlement efficiency: Tokenization can significantly shorten the clearing and settlement cycle from T+1 or even longer to T+0 (near instant settlement), thereby significantly improving capital efficiency and reducing counterparty risk; 3) Lowering the entry threshold: In theory, through asset fragmentation, tokenization can lower the investment threshold and allow retail investors to participate in high-value asset investments with lower amounts; 4) DeFi composability: Tokenized securities can serve as "Lego blocks" in the DeFi ecosystem, such as using them as collateral for lending agreements, unlocking new financial application scenarios.

It’s important to note that the innovation of Nasdaq’s tokenized securities proposal lies in theoretically improving trading and clearing efficiency by integrating technology and maintaining compatibility with the existing regulatory framework. This does not mean that all of the aforementioned advantages will be fully realized.

However, some in the market point out that tokenization offers limited practical value to individual investors. First, mainstream online brokerages currently offer zero-commission stock trading, and the T+1 settlement cycle is sufficiently efficient for most retail investors. Second, tokenized stock trading carries inherent risks of irreversibility, and its legal protection remains a gray area. Smart contracts also have limitations and the potential for hacker attacks, making them unable to cope with every unforeseen situation.

Furthermore, there have been cases where the prices of some tokenized stocks have deviated significantly from the prices of the underlying securities. For example, AMZNX, a tokenized stock tracking Amazon, soared to $891.58 on July 5, roughly four times Amazon's previous closing price, sparking investor concerns about market manipulation and insider trading.

Given the nature of its business, Nasdaq, a B2B platform primarily serving institutional clients, may not be the true target audience for its proposal. For traditional financial giants, faster clearing and settlement cycles mean greater capital efficiency and reduced risk exposure. The underlying value of this proposal is likely to serve its institutional clients by optimizing the underlying infrastructure, while the "efficiency revolution" for retail investors is more of a marketing gimmick.

One of Nasdaq's underlying motivations for submitting the proposal is to seize the opportunity presented by the tokenization wave and prevent the emergence of an unregulated tokenized ecosystem isolated from traditional markets. By providing a trading platform that integrates blockchain technology while adhering to strict regulatory compliance, it could become a primary entry point and circulation hub for tokenized assets.